A Chinese ship carrying arms destined for Zimbabwe that fled as legal papers were about to be served on it might not have broken the law, maritime legal experts said on Saturday.

The An Yue Jiang, with its controversial cargo, is alleged to have lifted anchor and set sail from Durban on Friday as the Sheriff of Durban approached the vessel. Barely an hour before the vessel set sail the Durban High Court ordered that the ship enter Durban's harbour and offload the armaments which had to be held in secure storage by the Sheriff of Durban.

Andrew Robinson, the vice chairperson of the Maritime Law Association, told Sapa that if the ship's captain knew that the sheriff had been about to serve papers, then the ship would have contravened South African law.

"If not, he's perfectly entitled to do that (set sail)," he said.

The Sheriff of Durban could not be reached for comment. It was not clear whether the Sheriff had radioed ahead to inform the ship that he was coming aboard.

Professor John Hare, who heads the Shipping Law Unit at the University of Cape Town, said: "The problem is practicalities. How's the sheriff in a small launch going to stop him?"

He said that had ship's captain "obstructed" the serving of papers, then the Sheriff would be entitled to chase the ship beyond the 12 nautical mile zone. He said that if the Sheriff had informed the ship that he was about to serve papers, then the ship's actions could be construed as resisting arrest.

The ship's master, who identified himself as captain Sunaijun, told Sapa by radio phone on Friday night: "I am awaiting orders from my owner."

He refused to answer any other questions. It was not immediately known where the vessel, owned by Chinese state owned company Cosco Group, was headed.

Heading to East London?

The broadcaster SkyNews reported that the ship appeared to be heading back down the South African coast, towards the port of East London. This could not be immediately confirmed.

Meanwhile, CNN said the ship was headed to the port of Luanda, in Angola, citing the South African Department of Transport. Three million rounds of AK-47 ammunition, 1500 rocket-propelled grenades and more than 3000 mortar rounds and mortar tubes are among the cargo on the ship, according to copies of the inventory.

Anglican bishop Rubin Phillips with Patrick Kearney, a former activist and executive of the Diakonia Council of Churches, made Friday's application to the Durban High Court to prevent the weapons from reaching Zimbabwe.

The papers were lodged with Judge Kate Pillay in chambers shortly before 5pm. About an hour later their attorney Ranjit Purshotam emerged from the court and announced that Judge Pillay had ruled in favour of the application — effectively barring the movement of the arms to Zimbabwe.

"There is an interdict in place at the moment which prohibits the conveyance of arms and ammunition across the territory of South Africa. It is an interim order in place which will be in place until next Friday," he said.

Their legal action was sought in terms of the National Conventional Arms Control Act (NCACC), which "requires that any transfer of arms be authorised by a permit issued on terms of the NCACC".

International embarrassment

Earlier on Saturday civil rights initiative AfriForum said that the ship's departure had saved the South African government from further international embarrassment. If the weapons had been transported across South Africa, the government would have contravened the international Wassenaar Agreement, said AfriForum chief executive Kallie Kriel.

The agreement stipulates that arms may not be transported to areas where they will be used to repress people or to commit human rights violations."

"The fact that South Africa has been saved from further embarrassment is not due to government's actions, but rather in spite thereof. The… government had already approved a permit on Monday for the transport of the arms consignment across South African territory and this process would probably have gone ahead if the court had not prevented it," he said.

The ship and its cargo caused an uproar across South African political parties, labour unions and non-governmental organisations, which believed the weapons would be used by Zimbabwe's army to suppress supporters of Zimbabwe's opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Zimbabwe held its elections three weeks ago and the results of the presidential poll have still not been released. However, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has already proclaimed himself the victor over Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

Kriel said the government's approval for the weapons to be transported across South Africa had resulted in it "swapping its ineffective policy of silent diplomacy for an even more disastrous policy of collusion with the state violence and human rights violations committed by the Zimbabwean government against its own citizens".

AfriForum had planned to stage a protest against the ship and its cargo, but cancelled it after the ship left the harbour. Repeated attempts on Friday and Saturday to contact Wang Kun Hui, the managing director of Cosren, the ship's agents, were unsuccessful.

Sapa