Zimbabwe's neighbors unite to block arms shipment

NF Reporter · 04-22-2008, 04:24 PM

AP - Zimbabwe's regime got a taste of the international isolation critics say it deserves, with its neighbors uniting to block a shipment of Chinese arms to prevent them from being used against Robert Mugabe's opponents.

Full Story...

waltky · 04-23-2008, 12:41 AM

Looks like world attention payin' off...

China says Zimbabwe arms may be recalled
Wednesday, April 23, 2008 -- China said on Tuesday a shipment of weapons bound for Zimbabwe may return home after South African port workers refused to unload it and two other southern African nations denied it access to their ports.

Quote:

Zambia, which chairs the Southern African Development Community grouping, urged regional states to bar the An Yue Jiang from entering their waters, saying the weapons could deepen Zimbabwe's election crisis. The ship was barred from unloading in the South African port of Durban, prompting it to set sail again. Mozambique and Angola have since said it was not welcome.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said the contract for the shipment was signed last year and was "unrelated to recent developments" in Zimbabwe. Jiang said the arms shipment was "perfectly normal trade in military goods between China and Zimbabwe," but because it was impossible for land-locked Zimbabwe to receive the goods, the company may ship the cargo back to China.

Zimbabwe on Sunday announced a delay in a partial recount of votes in its March 29 elections, which the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says it won. The delay extends a deadlock in which the MDC says 10 members have been killed. "I have nothing against the Chinese, but I do have something against the way they are arming the regime in Zimbabwe with war weapons with which our people will be repressed," MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai told Germany's Deutschlandfunk radio.

MORE

See also:

Zimbabwe neighbors gettin' fed up with Mugabe...

Africa shows Zimbabwe crisis impatience
April 23, 2008 - SOUTH Africa's ruling party leader has called for a new African initiative to solve Zimbabwe's crisis, as neighbouring states show increasing impatience with President Robert Mugabe.

Quote:

In what analysts said was unprecedented action towards Mr Mugabe by his long-passive neighbours, including traditional allies, maritime states around landlocked Zimbabwe all refused to allow a Chinese ship carrying arms to the country to unload. South Africa's African National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma made his toughest comments yet on the three-week delay in announcing the results of Zimbabwe's March 29 presidential election.

"It's not acceptable. It's not helping the Zimbabwean people who have gone out to ... elect the kind of party and presidential candidate they want, exercising their constitutional right." Mr Zuma, who has distanced himself from the "quiet diplomacy" of South African President Thabo Mbeki over Zimbabwe, said: "I imagine that the leaders in Africa should really move in to unlock this logjam.

"Concretely this means African countries should identify some people to go in there, probably talk to both parties, call them and ask them what the problem is, as well as the electoral commission". Mr Zuma toppled Mr Mbeki as ANC leader last December and has gradually boosted power at the expense of the president.

More Africa shows Zimbabwe crisis impatience | NEWS.com.au

waltky · 05-07-2008, 03:18 AM

Chinese intentions in Africa scrutinized...

China's African activity comes under increasing international scrutiny
06 May 2008 - China's presence in Africa is coming under growing scrutiny following a recent attempt to ship arms to Zimbabwe

Quote:

Beijing's expanding presence in Africa is coming under mounting scrutiny, with United States and African officials citing a recent Chinese arms shipment bound for Zimbabwe as the latest sign that China's Africa strategy needs an overhaul. South African dockworkers at the port of Durban were the first to refuse a Chinese merchant ship carrying ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar rounds that were bound for land-locked Zimbabwe in late April.

The governments of Angola, Mozambique and Namibia subsequently declared their refusal to accept the arms shipment, which many feared would be used in acts of violence and political repression in Zimbabwe over the disputed results of the 29 March presidential election. James Swan, the US deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said African countries' rejection of the arms shipment is the latest sign that China's secretive bilateral trade relationships with regimes in Africa may backfire in the long term.

"What's most striking about this is it was an African reaction to the situation," Swan said at a 28 April briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. "This is a clear example in which the relationship between China and Africa is not going to be determined just by China, or even by China in a specific bilateral relationship, but more broadly by Africans across the continent." He continued: "These events actually illuminate some challenges the Chinese government may have [to make] in the future."

The outcome of the presidential election in Zimbabwe remained unclear at the time of going to press. The incumbent, Robert Mugabe, was locked in a dispute with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai over who had won. Human Rights Watch, the US-based international non-governmental organisation, has accused Mugabe of engaging in a systematic terror campaign to intimidate the opposition. Political leaders in Angola, which overtook Saudi Arabia as the biggest crude oil supplier to China in the first quarter of this year, say they rejected the Chinese arms shipment - despite their close trade relationship with Beijing - because they were worried about mounting violence in Zimbabwe.

China's African activity comes under increasing international scrutiny - Jane's Military Capabilities News

waltky · 05-18-2008, 06:37 AM

Chinese gunrunners push through...

Chinese weapons arrive in Zimbabwe
Sunday, May 18, 2008 - Weapons ordered from China for the Zimbabwe government arrived in Harare despite an international boycott, media reports said Saturday.

Quote:

According to South Africa's SAPA news agency, the government in Zimbabwe confirmed that 3 million rounds of automatic weapons ammunition, 3,000 mortar rounds and 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades had arrived. Some media reports accused the South African government of assisting the delivery of the munitions by fuelling at sea the Chinese freighter An Yue Yiang that was carrying the goods.

The vessel then unloaded at the Pointe Noire in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The South African government denied the accusations, saying the ship landed in Angola and the weapons were flown into landlocked Zimbabwe via an Ilyushi Il-76 to Harare. In mid-April, the An Yue Yiang was due to unload weapons in Durban, South Africa for transit to Zimbabwe by road.

The shipment was paid for in January, two months before Zimbabwe's disputed elections, but the timing of the delivery, coming amid mounting reports of "revenge" attacks by supporters of Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF on supporters of the rival Movement for Democratic Change, raised fears the weapons could be used against civilians. Dockworkers in Durban and around the region had refused or threatened to refuse to offload the cargo, saying to do so given the escalating tensions in post-elections Zimbabwe would be irresponsible.

Source

waltky · 07-11-2008, 09:45 PM

Low-level civil war...

Zimbabwe In 'Low-Level Civil War,' Says South African Think Tank
10 July 2008 : A South African research institute said Thursday that a "low-intensity civil war" is unfolding in Zimbabwe as members of the embattled opposition Movement for Democratic Change fight back against alleged ruling ZANU-PF perpetrators of post-election political violence.

Quote:

But the Human Sciences Research Council report added that a full-scale civil war is unlikely as President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF holds a "virtual monopoly over coercive power." A senior MDC official dismissed the report, saying the party was committed to non-violence and was not organizing retaliation for attacks that have killed some 112 MDC members. Human Sciences Research Council Researcher-Director Peter Kagwanja, an author of the report, told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that South African-led mediation should be stepped up to keep Zimbabwe from sliding into wider conflict.

Deputy Organizing Secretary Morgan Komichi of the MDC formation of Morgan Tsvangirai said the party remains committed to nonviolence whatever the provocation. The report emerged amid news reports and rumors that the ruling party and military were preparing for an even harsher crackdown on opposition leaders to pressure the opposition to accept its terms for a government of national unity led by Mr. Mugabe.

The Los Angeles Times quoted ZANU-PF sources as saying the violence is likely to mount as the regime boosts pressure on the opposition. The state-controlled Herald newspaper quoted Dixon Mafios, ZANU-PF youth chairman for Mashonaland Central province, as urging militants there to remain vigilant against Western enemies seeking to control the country.

Security and Intelligence Secretary Giles Mutsekwa of the Tsvangirai MDC formation told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri that the opposition has obtained evidence that ZANU-PF has developed what he called "hit squads" to eliminate senior opposition figures. Sources in Mashonaland Central province reported renewed violence in the Shamva South and Shamva North constituencies, saying hundreds of MDC supporters have fled their homes. They said a woman severely burned four weeks ago when ZANU-PF militia pushed her into a fire on which she was preparing her supper died in Harare yesterday from her injuries.

VOA News - Zimbabwe In 'Low-Level Civil War,' Says South African Think Tank

See also:

Zimbabwe sanctions vetoed at UN
Saturday, 12 July 2008 - A resolution to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe's President Mugabe and some of his key allies is vetoed at the United Nations.

Quote:

China and Russia rejected the proposed measures, which included a freeze on financial assets and a travel ban. There has been growing international criticism of Zimbabwe since the re-election of Mr Mugabe in a run-off boycotted by the opposition. The UK foreign secretary called China and Russia's stance "incomprehensible".

David Miliband said Russia used its veto despite a promise by President Dmitry Medvedev to support the resolution, when it was discussed at this week's summit of the G-8 group of industrialised nations. The US ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, said Russia's veto raised "questions about its reliability as a G8 partner". A BBC correspondent at the UN says the failure of the resolution is a major blow for the United States and Britain.

The UK ambassador said after the vote that the UN had failed in its duty. "The people of Zimbabwe need to be given hope that there is an end in sight to their suffering," said Sir John Sawers. "The Security Council today has failed to offer them that hope." However, Russia's ambassador Vitaly Churkin said sanctions would have taken the UN beyond its mandate because Zimbabwe did not threaten international stability.

Zimbabwe's ambassador told the BBC the vote showed that "reason has prevailed". "People have been able to see the machinations of Washington, London and France," said Boniface Chidyausiku. South Africa voted against the sanctions resolution. It has promoted a power-sharing arrangement between President Mugabe and the opposition.

Envoy call

waltky · 10-10-2008, 04:11 AM

Financial crisis in Zimbabwe...

Zimbabwe inflation at 231m per cent
October 09, 2008 - ZIMBABWE'S annual inflation soared to 231 million per cent in July, confirming growing hardship in the southern African country, a state newspaper reported today citing official statistics.

Quote:

The Herald newspaper said the annual rate of inflation gained 219.8 million per cent, up from the June rate of 11.2 million per cent, adding that it was "driven faster by food prices". "The month-on-month rate rose 1760.9 percentage points on the June rate of 839.3 per cent to 2600.2 per cent," the newspaper quoted a statement from the Central Statistical Office (CSO) as saying. Bread and cereals were the main drivers, the statement said. Bread prices have been pushed up by wheat shortages as bakers are relying on imports, the newspaper said.

Once hailed as a model economy and a regional breadbasket, Zimbabwe's fortunes have nosedived since 2000 when veteran ruler Robert Mugabe seized white-owned farms and handed them over to landless blacks, often with no farming skills. But the Government blames the country's economic meltdown on sanctions imposed by Britain and its allies. The UN World Food Program estimated recently that 83 per cent of Zimbabweans are living on less than $US2 ($A3) a day and that 45 per cent of the total population is malnourished.

The Government has tried several measures - including price controls and striking off 10 zeros from the country's currency - to try to rein in galloping inflation. To keep pace with the rising costs, shops sometimes change the prices of goods more than twice a day while long meandering queues have become a familiar sight at banks as depositors queue up to withdraw cash which is rapidly losing its value. Last month the central bank gave some shops licences to sell goods in foreign currency in a bid to ease shortages which are fuelling the black market.

Zimbabwe inflation at 231m per cent | NEWS.com.au