Editorial
The Zimbabwe Weapons Ship Saga
By Dr. Gary K. Busch 23/4/08
Apr 23, 2008 - 9:49:51 AM

There is a lot of hyperbole and fuss being made about the shipment of some ammunition, mortars and RPG rounds to Zimbabwe from China. There are seven containers on board the An Yue Jiang consigned to Zimbabwe. Four of these contain military equipment. The others have spare parts for Chinese tractors which have broken down in Zimbabwe. The contract for the delivery of this equipment was agreed late in 2007 but the financing was not in place until early March. The vessel picked up cargo bound for several destinations in Arica in early March and set sail for Africa on the 8^th of March. The Zimbabwe cargo was a small part of the shipment.

As a matter of interest, the details of the vessel, its ownership and sailing history and schedule are available on the website Seasearcher produced by Lloyd’s List http://www.lloydsmiu.com/lmiu/companies/index.htm . There are few mysteries in international ship movements. The Portishead Light in the UK keeps everyone abreast of international ship movements.

The vessel arrived off Durban on the 30^th of March, tendered its Notice of Readiness to Discharge to the Port Authorities, was given Free Practique by the port authorities. In the process of customs clearance it was discovered that the contents of the several containers listed on the Cargo Manifest included the ammunition and RPGs.

T he shipment and transfer of ammunition, mortars, mines and artillery pieces in and out of South Africa by air and sea is a normal and regular occurrence. South Africa has one of the largest and most sophisticated weapons manufacturing and sales departments internationally and certainly the largest in Africa. The companies Denel and Armscor produce everything from ammunition, 155mm Self-propelled artillery, shells of all sorts, land mines and even assemble military aircraft (especially French and Swedish) under license. It is a sophisticated and profitable business. South African weapons and equipment are frequent features of the arsenals of many African countries and ‘liberation movements.’ There are few African wars without South African supplies being present.

T he amounts of ammunition and RPGs in this shipment from China are, by most standards, trivial. They are, however, symbolic. No one seriously thinks that the Zimbabweans are going to launch mortars and RPGs against an opposition armed with hand guns, sticks and sjamboks. It is far too costly an exercise to use these for civil control. The issue is about the ammunition. The fear which precipitated the unrest about the importation is that this ammunition can be used against the civil population in an effort to repress their protests. This is a sticking point and a source of embarrassment for the Zimbabweans because of the timing. Other than that it is a normal delivery of spares without political import.

What was more worrying to the Zimbabweans at the initial stages of the importation, was the attempt by a ‘vulture corporation’ to arrest the Zimbabwean import  to settle a debt owed by the Zimbabwe government to a German Bank. The captain of the Chinese cargo ship the "An Yue Jiang" hastily hoisted anchor to move out of Durban harbour after he learned that a High Court order had just barred the ship's 70 tons of weapons and ammunition from being transported across South Africa and that an order of confiscation was also placed on the cargo in partial settlement of a debt owed by the Zimbabweans to a German development bank, KfW. The development bank had approved millions of dollars in loans to the Zimbabwean state-owned Iron & Steel Company in 1998, to set up a new steelworks, and again in 2000 to increase the stock. The Zimbabwean government had guaranteed the loans.

S outh African media reported that the loans amounted to 40 million Euros.. But the loan was never repaid. The Zimbabwean government was thus liable to repay it -- but the state was in no financial position to pay up for its ailing steel company. So in 2006, the KfW secured a ruling from the International Chamber of Commerce allowing it to seize Zimbabwean government assets abroad.

A cting on KfW's behalf, international debt collectors Commercial Intelligence obtained a court order in Durban, South Africa,  to secure the ship's cargo in a bid to force repayment of the loans. The ship set sail from Durban Port on April 18, thwarting agents aiming to board it. The failed attempt to force repayment of about 40 million euros ($63.7 million) was highly embarrassing to the German bank when they learned the nature of the goods they were seizing. ”We're not arms dealers and want nothing to do with cargo of this nature,'' said Dela Strumpf, a spokeswoman for the Frankfurt-based bank's IPEX- Bank GmbH unit that gave the loans. The debt agency ``is legally obliged to observe the highest ethical standards'' in pursuing its business for the KfW”. Now the bank has a claim on weapons it is obliged, under German law, not to deal with. It has already tipped its hand to the Zimbabweans that it is scouting around to arrest Zimbabwean imports so the Zimbabweans will be more careful and seek to import these goods by air to Harare where no vultures will be allowed to prey.

The vessel is likely to return to China with the goods on board. This will prove problematic to the owners of other goods on the vessel (about 82% of the carrying capacity of the vessel) in South Africa and Angola whose imports have nothing to do with Zimbabwe. The litigation for frustrating the delivery of a cargo is likely to prove very costly to whomever can be shown to have frustrated the delivery. All in all, it is an embarrassing event for everyone connected with the transaction.