Chinese ship with weapons for Zimbabwe tells the story

China’s true intentions when it comes to Africa were illustrated recently when a Chinese ship carrying weapons destined for Zimbabwe arrived in the South African port of Durban.

Fortunately, a high court ordered that the weapons not be unloaded to be transported to politically unstable Zimbabwe.

Unfortunately, before South Africa could embargo the ship, it sailed for neighboring Mozambique. We would hope that its leaders also recognize the danger of the Chinese weapons falling into the hands of government forces in Zimbabwe.

The ruing party of President Robert Mugabe has lost its majority in parliament and the president himself failed to get enough votes to secure another term.

Although the unofficial results of the recent election revealed that the opposition party of Morgan Tsavangirai won the parliamentary elections and that the leader should be in a runoff with Mugabe, the high court rejected an appeal for the immediate release of the results.

The decision has emboldened the ruling party’s militias to step up their violent attacks on the members and supporters of the opposition.

The weapons from China would be used by President Mugabe’s forces to cause widespread death and destruction in regions dominated by the opposition.

The United Nations and the African Union should make it clear to China that there is a limit to how far it can affect the sovereignty of African nations. The Chinese are using their considerable financial strength to secure rights to oil supplies in countries such as Sudan and minerals from various other African nations.

Most countries in the continent are facing economic crises brought on by corrupt governments and China’s willingness to support leaders who should rightly be behind bars has made it a much-sought-after partner.

Financial power

But, the result of this blatant use of financial power is that millions of Africans are dying of starvation, disease and from ethnic violence perpetrated by corrupt leaders whose only goal is to remain in power and steal from the public treasuries.

However, South Africa’s refusal to let the Chinese ship An Yue Jiang dock and unload its cargo of weapons does give hope.

Indeed, port workers in Durban and truck drivers had made it clear they would not unload the weapons or transport them to Zimbabwe.

The umbrella Congress of South African Trade Unions applauded the stance by the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union, and reiterated its calls for Zimbabwean electoral officials to release the results of the March 29 presidential election.

“This vessel must return to China with the arms on board, as South Africa cannot be seen to be facilitating the flow of weapons into Zimbabwe at a time where there is a political dispute and a volatile situation,” the congress of unions said in a statement.

South African President Thabo Mbeki is under pressure to take a harder line on Zimbabwe. Mbeki has argued that Zimbabwean President Mugabe, who is accused of withholding the election results, is unlikely to respond to a confrontational approach.

Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, the archbishop of Durban and spokesman of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, called Friday on Mbeki’s government “not to allow any more arms and munitions to enter Zimbabwe through South Africa until an acceptable solution is found to the present situation.”

Mary Robinson, the former U.N. human rights chief, was on the mark in her praise of the unions for the taking a stand.

“How positive it is that ordinary dockers have refused to allow that boat to go further,” Robinson said during a conference in Senegal on governance in Africa. “They as individuals have taken the responsibility. Because they believe it’s not right.”

The only chance African nations have of becoming economically stable is for honest people to rise up and say “enough” to the corruption that is so prevalent.

The decision by South Africa to confront powerful China is an important and significant step.