Chinese Weapons Shipment Arrives in Zimbabwe

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Fears were growing yesterday that President Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe had been strengthened ahead of a presidential election with the secret delivery of a shipment of arms from China.

Reports said the weapons, including three million bullets, mortar bombs, and rocket-propelled grenades, had been unloaded from the Chinese vessel, the An Yue Jiang, at the Angolan port of Lobito and flown to Harare.

The ship had been the focus of international condemnation when it sailed towards South Africa last month. It was refused docking rights and remained off the coast for several weeks before the Chinese foreign ministry recalled it.

However, Zimbabwe's deputy information minister, Bright Matonga, was quoted by the South African newspaper, the Weekender, as saying that the regime has the weapons.

Two Zimbabwean ministers and senior army officers visited Luanda three weeks ago to negotiate the docking and unloading of the ship.