A Chinese ship loaded with weapons intended for Zimbabwe has neither sought nor received authorisation to dock in Angola, port authorities in Luanda said on Monday.

"This ship has not sought 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.

The An Yue Jiang was forced to abandon plans to offload in the South African port of Durban last week after activists won a court case which prevented it from getting permission to transport the load overland to the Zimbabwe border.

After authorities in Mozambique denied that the An Yue Jiang was heading to Zimbabwe's eastern neigbhour, there were reports that it may try and head to Angola, whose President Jose Eduardo dos Santos is a long-time ally of Zimbabwe's veteran leader Robert Mugabe.

Any attempt to offload in Angola, however, would still leave the question of how to get the load through to Zimbabwe, either via the Democratic Republic of Congo or through Zambia.

In the face of the reports, Mendonca said preventive measures had been taken.
"We have warned our ports that this ship does not have authorisation to enter in Angola and therefore will not be assisted in Angola," he said.

"I'm waiting for a message from South Africa, giving me the name of the ship and the situation so I can control the situation better."

Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party, battling to stay in power after last month's disputed elections, has meanwhile defended the regime's right to buy weapons from any legal source.

"It's our sovereign right to defend ourselves, it's our sovereign right to buy weapons from any legitimate source worldwide and we don't need clearance from anyone," Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said.