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FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Reuters]
The United States has expressed “concerns” to the Mozambican government about the fact that a Russian ship under Washington sanctions docked in January in a port of the country, the spokeswoman for the US embassy in Maputo told Lusa on Thursday.
“The US embassy has expressed concerns to representatives of the Mozambican government about the docking of a Russian cargo ship sanctioned by the United States in the port of Beira in January this year,” she said in response to questions posed by Lusa.
“Since before the start of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, the United States and partners have worked with governments around the world to restrict Russia’s access to anything that supports its military,” she added, without further details.
At issue is the voyage of the Russian cargo ship “Lady R”.
The US ambassador in Pretoria, Reuben Brigety, said a week ago that South Africa had loaded arms and ammunition for the ship at Simon’s Town Naval Base near Cape Town, which then went to Russia.
Following Brigety’s comments, South African president Cyril Ramaphosa said an investigation had already been launched (with help from US intelligence services) into the visit of the Russian cargo ship “Lady R” in December – his office adding that there was no evidence of any arms sales.
Meanwhile, on Friday, the US diplomat came out publicly to reaffirm “the strong alliance” with South Africa to “correct any misinterpretation” of his words and the South African side noted that, in a meeting, the ambassador “admitted to overstepping his bounds and apologised”.
READ: South Africa says US ambassador apologised for alleging country supplied arms to Russia
US envoy says Russian ship picked up weapons in South Africa
In parallel to this episode, an analysis of records made by the Associated Press news agency (AP) indicated that the “Lady R” freighter is linked to a company that has been sanctioned by the United States for having already transported arms to the Russian government and helping its war effort.
At the same time, the Al Jazeera television channel cited data from the multinational Refinitiv indicating that the cargo ship stopped between 7 and 11 January at the port of Beira, after leaving the Simon’s Town naval base and before continuing on to Port Sudan in the Red Sea.
Lusa sought reactions and additional information from the Mozambican ministry of foreign affairs and cooperation (Minec) and the ministry of transport, but in both cases the matter was referred to the maritime authority of Sofala province, in turn without further information about the docking of the cargo ship, confirmed by other port sources.
Mozambique has taken a position of neutrality towards the Russian invasion of Ukraine, abstaining in votes condemning Russia in the United Nations and calling for dialogue to end the conflict, from its position as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
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