Tanzanian Association Oslo

Now Tanzania gets

tough with Mugabe

-Bars Chinese weapons ship from docking in Dar es Salaam
-Membe: ’’Our position is election results should be made public’’

THISDAY REPORTER
Dar es Salaam

TANZANIA has refused to allow a Chinese ship reportedly carrying weapons for Zimbabwe to offload its cargo in Dar es Salaam, as the country now appears to be taking a decidedly strong stance against President Robert Mugabe’s government.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Bernard Membe, declared yesterday that the vessel, christened ’An Yue Jiang’, was barred from entering local waters on the grounds of fears that the weapons could help deepen Zimbabwe’s current election crisis.

’’Tanzania wants to see peace restored in Zimbabwe, therefore we cannot allow this ship to unload its weapons cargo in our country,’’ Membe told THISDAY in an interview.

And in what appears to be a major diplomatic U-turn, the minister said Tanzania was now urging the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to announce the much-delayed results of the presidential election.

Membe said Tanzania had taken such a position on the Zimbabwe crisis at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit held in Mauritius last week.

’’Tanzania’s position is that ZEC should first announce the results of the presidential election, before starting to recount the votes,’’ he said.

He added: ’’If the (Zimbabwe) electoral commission was able to announce results of the parliamentary elections, why has it failed to release results of the presidential vote?’’

Membe questioned the rationale behind ZEC’s decision to recount the votes in the presidential election even before releasing the results in the first place.

’’When you decide to recount something, it means you already know the initial tally and you want to verify the count,’’ he said.

Membe cautioned that the continued delay in announcing results of the presidential election could plunge Zimbabwe into unnecessary strife.

He advised the Zimbabwe government to respect the wishes of its people.

Zambia, which presently chairs the SADC grouping, has urged regional states to bar the Chinese weapons ship from entering their waters.

The ship was barred from unloading in the South African port of Durban, prompting it to set sail again. Mozambique and Angola have since denied it access to their ports.

According to a spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign ministry, Jiang Yu, 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.’’

She, however, added that because it is looking increasingly impossible for Zimbabwe to receive the goods, the company involved is now considering shipping the cargo back to China.

Zimbabwe on Sunday announced a delay in a partial recount of votes for the March 29 elections, which the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says it won. The delay extends a deadlock in which the MDC says ten of its 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.

South African port workers refused to unload the weapons because of concerns that President Robert Mugabe’s government might use them against opponents in the post-election stalemate.

The ship left South Africa on Friday. Mozambique said on Saturday the vessel would not be allowed into its waters.

Angola said on Monday the ship was not welcome there either. The vessel’s location and next destination were therefore unclear, although sources say it may be headed for Namibia.

Latest reports from Washington say the Bush administration is intervening with governments in southern Africa to prevent the ship from unloading its cargo, and the US State Department’s top Africa hand, Ms Jendayi Frazer, plans to visit the region this week to underscore US concerns about the shipment.

Ms Frazer will also try to persuade Zimbabwe’s neighbours to step up pressure on President Mugabe’s government to publish results from the disputed election.

The reports say US intelligence agencies are tracking the vessel and American diplomats have been instructed to press authorities in at least four nations - South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia and Angola - not to allow it to dock.

The ship is laden with large amounts of weapons and ammunition, including mortar grenades and bullets. There are fears that the arms could be used by Mugabe’s regime to expand a clampdown on opposition supporters.

Tanzania and other members of the 14-nation SADC have traditionally been unwilling to take a tough stand on Zimbabwe as called for by Western countries, notably Britain and the United States.

Diplomats say the latest developments mean that Mugabe could now be getting the cold shoulder from fellow African leaders over the Zimbabwe election crisis.