Martin Endjala
The Namibian government remains silent on suspicious vessels alleged to have docked at the port of Walvis Bay while ferrying cargo of military material destined for Israel.
According to information seen by the Windhoek Observer last week, on July 25, a vessel named MV Nordic IMO 9663001, operated by Ocean7 Projects APS, reportedly docked at Walvis Bay with the port of destination Piraeus, Greece.
According to reports, the vessel corroborated the suspicion that it was hiding a cargo of military material for Israel when it did not stop at its official destination but instead, at the last moment, changed course and headed straight to the Israeli port in Haifa.
The vessel came from Nhara Sheva in Mumbai through Chennai in India and Singapore.
Until this date, India has openly continued to export weapons to Israel, reports suggest.
The same operator, Ocean 7, allegedly operates another vessel, the MV Kathrin (IMO 9570620), that carries munitions and military equipment to Israel.
The vessel is reported to be coming from Haiphong and Vietnam.
Reports further suggest that past cases of vessels that have been denounced as potentially carrying weapons or other military equipment for Israel have also avoided docking in ports where authorities and civil society were alerted to the risk of illegal weapons transfers to Israel.
According to the marine tracking website VesselFinder, the current position of Kathrin is Walvis Bay, where it docked on 25 August.
It is currently sailing under the flag of Madeira, Portugal.
Questions sent last week to the Namibian Ports Authority (Namport), the Ministry of Works and Transport (Department of Maritime Affairs), and the Namibian Defence Force to collaborate on whether the reports are true or not went unanswered.
The Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation told the Windhoek Observer that it does not handle vessel issues and instead referred the publication to Namport.
Following the suspicious vessel reports, a human rights organisation, the Economic Social Justice and Trust (EJST), has urged Namport to refuse entry into the suspected vessel.
The EJST chairperson, Herbert Jauch, cautioned the government that allowing a vessel suspected of carrying military supplies could potentially lead to genocide.
He said the government may be making itself complicit in genocide.
“We therefore call on Namport to act in accordance with Namibia’s commitment to prevent genocide and not to be complicit in it,” said Jauch in a letter last week, directed to the government.
