Rights group concerned about arms shipment

The international rights group, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday that it was concerned that an arms ship destined for Angola and seized in Spain's Canary Islands, could contain "indiscriminate weapons". "Our main concern at the moment is that the shipment could contain anti-personal landmines, there were 20,000 crates found on board and not all have yet been checked.

We have to remember that Angola is a signatory to the international landmine treaty and if there are any landmines on board this would be in clear violation of the treaty," HRW spokesman Alex Vines told IRIN. Vines said that he had spoken to international maritime authorities and confirmed that the ship was headed for Luanda.

"Shipping arms to the Angolan government is not illegal. The issue here is that the Spanish authorities should have been notified, before it entered Spain's territorial waters, that the ship contained these weapons," said Vines. T

he ship was seized on 24 February in port of Las Palmas in Spain's Canary Islands. It had initially docked for refuelling, and the captain of the ship refused to allow port authorities on board to check its cargo. He said it contained auto parts. However, upon inspection 20,000 crates were found to be carrying 636 mt of weapons and explosives. Meanwhile, press reports said that the ship was registered in the Georgian port of Batumi, but belonged to a Ukrainian company.