JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, April 19 (UPI) -- South Africa is facing renewed pressure to reduce its support for the Zimbabwe government after an arms shipment docked in the port of Durban this week.
Unionized dock workers refused to unload the weapons and ammunition Friday, The New York Times reported Saturday. The workers threatened protests and violence if the government tried to unload the cargo without them.
Amid political pressure, the ship left South Africa for neighboring Mosambique, The New Zimbabwean reported.
The Chinese ship is carrying 3 million rounds of AK-47 ammunition, 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades and more than 3,000 mortar rounds and mortar tubes, according to copies of the inventory published by a South African newspaper.
Although the arms shipment was ordered from China before the elections, it arrival comes as the Zimbabwean government has delayed announcing results from the presidential election from three weeks ago.
Critics say longtime Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has delayed the election results because doesn't want to concede he has been forced from power by Morgan Tsvangirai, the presidential candidate of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
