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Angola 'rescues' ship of shame
Hans Pienaar and Gilberto Neto, The Cape Argus (SA)
April 25, 2008

http://zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=18657

The ship An Yue Jiang, loaded with weapons for Zimbabwe, is expected to dock in Lobito, Angola at midday on Friday, where activists hope it will meet the same fate as it did in Durban last week. International Transport Workers Federation's spokesperson Sam Dawson said on Wednesday that they were "extremely confident" that the Chinese container ship was on its way to Lobito. Preparations would be made to prevent its cargo from being off-loaded by dock workers there. The Chinese ship had been spotted off the western coast of Africa, he said, but declined identify the ITFs sources, since they would be in danger of being exposed. He said the ship was sailing at 11 knots and would, by ITF calculations, be outside Lobito on Friday. Union preparations were continuing to block attempts to unload and transport the cargo "and any attempt to do so will be met by the strongest possible trade union response". The ITF has two affiliates in Angola.

Last week the An Yue Jiang lifted anchor in Durban harbour as it was about to receive a court interdict impounding its arsenal of weapons and ammunition. The interdict was obtained by legal and church activists. Cape Town Archbishop Thomas Makgoba has said the Anglican Church will be in touch with religious bodies in Namibia and Angola to explore "ecumenical action" to prevent the cargo from being off-loaded. A western diplomatic source in Luanda said Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos had sent a letter on Sunday to his Zimbabwean counterpart, Robert Mugabe. The content of the letter was not officially disclosed. But an Angolan external relations ministry official, who requested anonymity, said this week that the Angolan government would not issue authorization for the ship to dock in any of the country's ports. "Given the ongoing volatile political situation in Zimbabwe, we believe we need to approach this issue very carefully," he said. The official refused to confirm whether the vessel or the Chinese authorities had asked for permission, noting Angola was still following the issue in the international media.

Dawson confirmed that the ITF had been in touch with the An Yue Jiang's owner, Cosco, on Wednesday and had suggested to them that the proper course to take would be to return to China. Cosco replied that the request "would be going through our channels". This contradicts statements by Chinese authorities that the ship had been recalled. Cosco, like most Chinese companies, is part-owned by the Chinese government, but China's foreign ministry has said it will not interfere in what it called a normal commercial transaction. Sources said they expected an announcement on a recall would be made by Cosco itself, rather than the Chinese government, even though the order might be given by the latter. The Chinese embassy in Pretoria has not responded to a list of questions on the matter. On Wednesday at 6pm, Steve Olley of the Maritime Intelligence Unit of Lloyds, which runs a 24-hour tracking operation, said it had been in the dark over the ship's whereabouts since 5pm on Tuesday, when it was 25 nautical miles off Cape Town. Either the ship had switched off its transponder, or it had sailed so close to the shore that the signal might have been blocked, he said.

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