UK/Zimbabwe

Brown calls for Zimbabwe arms embargo

Article published on the 2008-04-23 Latest update 2008-04-24 09:52 TU

The Chinese ship An Yue Jiang.
(Photo : www.blogula-rasa.com)

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is calling for a total arms embargo against Zimbabwe in the light of a post-election situation that he deems “unacceptable.” Brown, who met with South African ANC leader Jacob Zuma in London, said he would table a bill calling for the embargo in the British House of Commons.

Zuma was less enthusiastic about the embargo, judging it too early to call for such a measure, though he did admit that the political situation in Zimbabwe was “not acceptable”.

 

The call comes as a Chinese ship, the An Yue Jiang, carrying arms originally destined for Zimbabwe is heading to Angola, after dockworkers in South Africa refused to unload the shipment and a court backed their move. 

 

Zimbabwe is already under a military embargo from many western countries, dating to 2002. The Chinese shipment, however, is legal.

 

The embargo call was echoed by Human Rights Watch, which called on the international community to refrain from selling light arms and crowd control devices to Zimbabwe until the post-election unrest is resolved.

 

Meanwhile dockworkers unions are calling on Angolan longshoremen to refuse to unload the ship.

 

“Lethal weapons of this nature cannot be allow to enter the territory of Zimbabwe, because it is likely to be used to repress the people of Zimbabwe who voted in a certain manner,” said Randall Howard, president of the International Transport Workers' Federation.