Where in the World is the “Ship of Shame”?
Sightings of the controversial Chinese ship transporting weapons bound for Zimbabwe, which last month was reportedly heading home, have been reported all over Africa. First, Radio Africa (via China Rises) reported that the An Yue Jiang’s cargo had finally made it to Zimbabwe after all:
Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga on Sunday claimed that the controversial shipment of arms from China, initially blocked by South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia, was now in Zimbabwe.
Responding to criticism of the shipment during a panel discussion on Iranian sponsored ‘Press TV’ Matonga is said to have derisively retorted, “in any case that shipment is already in Zimbabwe.”
Yet today, the ship was also reportedly spotted in an Angolan port, where workers had once again refused to unload the cargo. From The Citizen:
The Chinese vessel Au Yue Jiang, containing a shipment of 70 tons of arms for Zimbabwe, has been found in the Angolan port of Lubito, according to the SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu).
The organisation representing stevedores in the port told The Citizen yesterday the ship was trying to off-load the arms, but the Angolan dockers had refused to do the job.
At the same time, according to South Africa’s Independent, the International Transport Workers Federation (ITWF) believes the ship is in fact on its way to the Republic of the Congo:
The ITWF had received conflicting reports of where the An Yue Jiang was headed. He said some reports had indicated the ship was headed to Point Noire in the Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville).
But, the story continues:
Other reports indicated that the ship was headed back to China and would begin passing South African territorial waters by May 12.
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[...] (9/5/2008) to provide this CDT story of the ongoing ’ship of shame’ saga. Apparantly it’s still patrolling [...]