Is The End Near For Robert Mugabe’s Regime?
In what could well be a sign that Robert Mugabe's nightmarish misrule of Zimbabwe may be coming to an end, a Chinese shipment of arms to Zimbabwe has been turned away. Other African nations and organizations banded together to frustrate the planned delivery.
JOHANNESBURG, April 22 — A Chinese ship carrying weapons and ammunition for Zimbabwe's military may be headed back home, reports said, after repeated attempts to deliver its cargo were frustrated by a coalition of legal activists, union workers and human rights groups.
The region's resistance to the shipment, which drew praise from the United States on Tuesday, marks a dramatic turn from southern Africa's traditional embrace of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and its reverence for national sovereignty.
It also signals the strength of South Africa's mounting backlash against President Thabo Mbeki's traditionally deferential dealings with Mugabe. The resistance from union workers, almost all of whom are members of his African National Congress, was decisive in preventing the ship from unloading its cargo of bullets and mortars on schedule.
The 489-foot An Yue Jiang was near the Cape of Good Hope on Tuesday night, headed northwest at a modest speed, according to Lloyd's Marine Intelligence Unit, based in London. But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said that because the shipment could not be unloaded, despite being part of a "perfectly normal trade," the cargo would probably return to China. Jiang added that she hoped the incident would not be "politicized."
Too late for that, I'm afraid. It has already become a political issue. For once, Mugabe is on the short end of the deal, too. The ship is carrying some three million rounds of ammunition as well as mortars. The shipment has not left the vicinity yet, however, so it is too early to tell if this is over yet. Still, it is encouraging that other African nations are refusing to allow the shipment into their ports.
World news | Gaius Wednesday, 23 April , 2008
By scotchcart, Wednesday, 23 April , 2008 @ 6:49 am
‘politicized’ is code for ‘beat up China again’.Their reference point is more what the west says about them than how many Africans die as a consequence of their weapon sales. Sad. But that is where the discourse it.The average Chinese citizens blinks with hurt as does the average American when Iraq is discussed and says "who me?"