Zambia's president urged regional states on Monday to bar a Chinese ship carrying arms to Zimbabwe from entering their waters, saying the shipment could deepen the country's election crisis.
Zimbabwe announced a delay on Sunday in a partial recount of votes in March 29 parliamentary elections, extending a deadlock in which the opposition says 10 of its members have been killed and hundreds arrested.
The opposition says its leader Morgan Tsvangirai won presidential elections held on the same day, and that Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is attempting to cling to power by delaying declaring the result.
The Chinese ship, An Yue Jiang, was turned away from South Africa and is heading for Angola in the hope of docking there, Mozambique's transport minister said on Saturday.
Mozambique did not allow it to enter its waters.
"I hope this will be the case with all the countries because we don't want a situation which will escalate the (tension) in Zimbabwe more than what it is," Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, who is also chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional grouping, told reporters.
The Chinese ship left South African waters on Friday after a court refused to allow the arms to be transported across South Africa.
The 300,000-strong South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) refused to unload the weapons because of concerns Mugabe's government might use them against opponents in the post-election stalemate.
For its part, China is trying to prevent the controversy from fuelling criticism over its human rights record and rule in Tibet ahead of hosting the Olympics in August. Violent protests have followed the Olympic torch across the globe.
"The Chinese can play a very useful role in Zimbabwe without (offering) firearms," Zambia's Mwanawasa said.
In Harare, Zimbabwean Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said it was Zimbabwe's sovereign right to defend itself and buy weapons from all legitimate sources.
"I don't understand all this hullabaloo about a lone ship," he told a news conference.
