China says arms bound for Zimbabwe may be recalled

By Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Tuesday a shipment of weapons bound for Zimbabwe may return home after South African port workers refused to unload it and two other southern African nations denied it access to their ports.

Zambia, which chairs the Southern African Development Community grouping, urged regional states to bar the An Yue Jiang from entering their waters, saying the weapons could deepen Zimbabwe's election crisis.

The ship was barred from unloading in the South African port of Durban, prompting it to set sail again. Mozambique and Angola have since said it was not welcome.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said 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," but because it was impossible for land-locked Zimbabwe to receive the goods, the company may ship the cargo back to China.

Zimbabwe on Sunday announced a delay in a partial recount of votes in its March 29 elections, which the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says it won. The delay extends a deadlock in which the MDC says 10 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 President Robert Mugabe's government might use them against opponents in the post-election stalemate.