A ship carrying weapons bound for Zimbabwe may be recalled to China after the vessel was prevented from unloading in South Africa, Beijing said today.

But the Chinese Foreign Ministry defended the controversial shipment - which is widely feared to be for use by the Zimbabwean security services against their own countrymen - as “perfectly normal trade”.

Jiang Yu, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, insisted that the weapons sale was agreed last year and was “unrelated to recent developments” in Zimbabwe.

Ms Jiang said the shipment was “perfectly normal trade in military goods between China and Zimbabwe”, but because Zimbabwe was unable to receive the goods, the company involved was now considering recalling it.

Zambia’s president has urged states in southern Africa to ban the ship, the An Yue Jiang, from entering their waters, saying the weapons could deepen Zimbabwe’s election crisis.

The ship was earlier forced to leave South Africa after dock workers refused to unload it, amid concerns President Robert Mugabe might use the weapons to suppress his political opponents after disputed elections.

On Sunday, Zimbabwe announced a delay in a partial recount of votes in March 29 elections, further dampening hopes of a swift resolution to a crisis during which the opposition says 10 of its members have been killed and hundreds arrested.

It is feared that President Mugabe is planning restrospectively to rig the parliamentary vote, which saw his Zanu (PF) party losing its majority to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) for the first time.

The MDC says that its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, won the simultaneous presidential vote, and claims that Mr Mugabe's refusal to release the results is part of his bid to cling onto power.

“Those weapons were not going to be used on mosquitoes, but (were) clearly meant to butcher innocent civilians whose only crime is rejecting dictatorship and voting (for) change,” the party said in a statement today, carried by South Africa’s SAPA news agency.

The Chinese vessel, branded a "doom ship" in the international media, left South Africa on Friday after the 300,000-strong South African Transport and Allied Workers Union refused to unload it.

Mozambique said on Saturday that the ship would not be allowed into its waters, while Angola said yesterday it would not be welcome there either.

“This ship has not sought a request to enter Angolan territorial waters and it’s not authorised to enter Angolan ports,” Filomeno Mendonca, director of the Institute of Angolan Ports, told Luanda Radio LAC, a private Angolan radio station.

However a representative of the shipping company involved told Agence-France Presse today that the vessel was indeed bound for Angola.

“According to the documentation, the next calling port is Angola. This vessel is causing a lot of attention. The information is very sensitive,” said Wang Kun Hui, a representative of the Cosren shipping agency in Durban.

Asked where exactly in Angola, Mr Wang replied: “Luanda.”

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