The dockworkers and president of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) and the Southern Africa Litigation Centre and others who worked hard to stop the offloading of the arms in Durban need to be commended for their efforts.

Now it is up to the rest of us who care about what happens to the people of Zimbabwe to stay on top of this story, track the “Freighter of Death” as it steams for its next undisclosed port of entry, and prevent the offloading and trans-shipment of bullets and RPG’s for Mugabe’s henchmen. How do you get 77 tons of munitions and armaments from Luanda to Harrare? Through the jungle via backroads or by rail?

COSCO, the huge Chinese state-owned ocean freight company, certainly knows the present position and next destination of the An Yue Jiang. There must be a service available online that tracks and maps the position of various maritime vessels just as aircraft are tracked and mapped. If you know about such a service, let us know ASAP.

Here is another excerpt from that Reuters article referenced by John Chilton that I felt is worth repeating here:

Zimbabwe’s deputy information minister, Bright Matonga, said on Friday that no party had the right to stop the shipment.

“Every country has got a right to acquire arms. There is nothing wrong with that. If they are for Zimbabwe, they will definitely come to Zimbabwe,” he told South Africa’s SAFM radio.

“How they are used, when they are going to be used is none of anybody’s business.”

For its part, China is trying to prevent the controversy from fuelling criticism over its human rights record and rule in Tibet ahead of hosting the Olympics in August. Violent protests have followed the Olympic torch across the globe.

China’s Foreign Ministry said in a short faxed statement to Reuters that it had seen the reports about the ship, but “did not understand the actual situation”.

“China and Zimbabwe maintain normal trade relations. What we want to stress is China has always had a prudent and responsible attitude towards arms sales, and one of the most important principles is not to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries,” the statement said.

Mozambique’s Transport and Communications Minister Paulo Zucula told Reuters that Mozambique has been monitoring the movements of the ship since it lifted anchor and left South Africa. “We know that it registered its next destination as Luanda because here we wouldn’t allow it into Mozambican waters without prior arrangements”, he said.