ZIMBABWE’S presidential election result is expected today – after a recount of disputed seats led to yesterday’s confirmation of the opposition’s majority in parliament, nearly a month after the polls were held.

But there was little appetite for celebrations amid reports of mounting violence and intimidation, and growing concern both on the continent and internationally. And there was also concern after a report that Angola had given authorisation for a Chinese ship loaded with a controversial cargo of arms destined for Zimbabwe to dock in Luanda.

However, the Angolan authorities reportedly said the ship would not be allowed to unload the weapons, only cargo destined for Angola.

The so-called “ship of shame” has become a powerful organising tool for trade unions, religious leaders and civic groups trying to stop state-sponsored brutality against Zimbabwe’s opposition. Any delivery of its weapons could well make that crackdown even more deadly.

Angola’s decision not to allow the unloading of weapons brought the latest and the most surprising evidence of success in the international pressure campaign against the Zim government.

Levy Mwanawasa, Zambia’s president and the head of a bloc of 14 southern African nations, last week called on leaders not to allow the cargo to be delivered, but he had publicly criticised Zim’s leadership before.

In contrast, Angola has long been seen as one of President Robert Mugabe’s staunchest allies, so its decision to block the arms is a fresh sign that the region’s traditional solidarity with Mugabe, the hero of Zimbabwe’s liberation from white rule in 1980, is weakening.

The announcement about the ship on Angola’s official news website was displayed in a way sure to enrage Mugabe. It was placed next to a photograph of Angolan president Jose Eduardo dos Santos shaking hands with Jendayi Frazer, America’s top diplomat for Africa.

On Thursday, Frazer declared that Morgan Tsvangirai had beaten Mugabe, a statement denounced by Zimbabwe’s justice minister as proof of “the Western axis” behind what he called illegal efforts to topple Mugabe.

Zanu-PF showed its fury over the blocking of the Chinese ship by fellow nations in the region – the backbone of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) – in an editorial in the state-owned Herald newspaper. SADC was depicted as a tool for Britain and the United States – “the great Satanists” – carrying “the dishonour of fighting a borrowed war”.

Company documents show that Poly Technologies, the manufacturer of the weapons on board the ship, is ultimately controlled by a clique from China’s pre- eminent military clans with close ties to Communist party leaders and the army.

Major-General He Ping, the company’s chairman, is the son-in-law of Deng Xiaoping, the former Chinese leader; its president, Wang Jun, is the son of a vice- president and a Deng ally. Its upper ranks are stuffed with military veterans and their offspring. Since Zimbabwe is all but bankrupt, the arms are paid for by barters of agricultural products and raw materials.

On paper, Poly Technologies is a subsidiary of the China International Trust and Investment Corporation. Analysts say, however, that Poly is actually a front reporting to the People’s Liberation Army. — © The Sunday Times, London, Sapa and AFP

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