Thanks to the folks at Wikileaks, I have come across an interesting document which is the shipping order for the weapons from Poly Technologies Inc. in China to the Ministry of Defense in Zimbabwe. Now, Zimbabwe has been in the news quite often in Europe because it used to be a British colony back however the country is in a crisis of leadership with the current administration trying desperately to cling to power while the rest of the world wants a change for the people of Zimbabwe. This man is Robert Mugabe, who I will from now refer to as “funny moustache”:
Now the even bigger news, was that despite the fact that that Zimbabwe is experiencing 165,000% inflation as of February. He has managed to pay for a shipment of Arms from the Chinese totaling $245,508. Now I wonder which Swiss bank did he have that money stored in? That shipment included the following (The scanned documents were not that clear so I did my best to reconstruct the cargo):
- 7.62 x 54mm Ball (What is this for?)
- 7.62 x 39mm Ball (What is this for?)
- RPG7 40mm Rockets HE Type G9
- 60mm Mortar Bombs Type PP89
- 80mm Mortar Bombs Type W81
- 80mm Mortar Tubes Type W91
- 6 Fighter Jets (unconfirmed)
I have a few problems with this whole scenario:
- Why did South Africa even allow this shipment to proceed all the way from China? I think we can blame president Mbeki for that as he has continuously been soft on President Mugabe because he helped out the ANC during their struggle against the prior Apartheid government. That is no excuse for letting the citizens of your neighbor suffer.
- What was China thinking? Seriously? Why sell weapons to a truly crazy man like Mugabe? I think the Chinese government made another serious error of judgment in pursuing its non-interventonist policy in Africa. This is terrible to say this but at the moment looking back at the Chinese government’s dealings in Africa, we can truly say that they are motivated by economic gains rather than making a difference to the lives of people in Africa. Sure they perform a few goodwill gestures here and there but if that shipment of arms had landed in Africa, we might be hearing about Mugabe slaughtering the opposition in “defending his government from conspirators”
- Lastly what is Mugabe thinking? Why does he want these weapons? My theory is that he is either preparing for more drastic measures against the opposition MDC or perhaps he is waiting for the international community to invade Zimbabwe so that he can put up a fight with his dying breath. Given the circumstances at the moment, I am more inclined to believe the 1st scenario but I guess we can thank the powers that be that no arms have gone into Zimbabwe.
People may criticize the United States for lacking a moral compass these days and that may be true considering the massive civilian casualties in Iraq but comparatively speaking, the U.S is nowhere near as bad as the government of China. There are over 300,000 dead in Darfur and the only government that can really do something about it is sitting in their cushy leather chairs and counting the money. My pick (Barack Obama) for the president of the United States said this:
Today we are engaged in a deadly global struggle for those who would intimidate, torture, and murder people for exercising the most basic freedoms. If we are to win this struggle and spread those freedoms, we must keep our own moral compass pointed in a true direction.
Now let’s put this into a nice short summary to simplify the situation:
The People’s Liberation Army (China) which owns Poly Technologies sends a shipment of Arms using the Cosco shipping company which is based in China but has an office in South Africa to the Ministry of Defense in Zimbabwe. Cosco relies on its subsidiary Cosren which is based in Durban (RSA) to unload the shipment and see it on its way to Zimbabwe. The Chinese don’t anticipate any problems (Are you kidding me?) but the Durban Dock Workers refuse to unload the weapons. The ship leaves South Africa to the chagrin of the Chinese government who insists that we should not mix politics and economics (doesn’t that sound familiar…). The ship tried to dock in Angola but is turned away again to have to make the long hard journey back to China with all the cargo “safely” on board.
Now if anyone would like to dispute what I have written today, please do so but read the facts first and I have nicely put the shipping documents in the Downloads section so make use of them before stating your argument. I am honestly ashamed to say that South Africa has a role in this saga and I hope South Africa, the international community and the Chinese government will take a sterner stance with Robert Mugabe so that the people of Zimbabwe can finally put their country back together.
