Panafrican News Agency, May 21, 1997

CABINDA, Angola (PANA) - Angolan Police have arraigned a Russian registered ship carrying weapons and ammunition, the Angolan News Agency, Angop, reported Wednesday.

It said the weapons were bound for Equatorial Guinea.

The agency said that the weapons included 23 AK-47 rifles with 16 magazines, 40 F1 grenades and as many rocket propelled granades (RPG), 23 grenade launchers, two pistols, five RPG7 rocket launchers, six boxes of ammunition and one radio transmitter.

This is part of illegal arms trafficking for which Cabinda seems to be the pivotal link, said a criminal investigation police officer.

He refused to give further details for fear of hampering the ongoing investigations.

Police said all the crew members and passengers, most of them non-Russians aboard the Russian ship Sana 1, have been under custody.

Meanwhile, fighting continues in the southeast Angolan oil-rich province of Cabinda, especially in Tando-Zinze, in the Cabinda municipality.

In February and March, government forces clashed with Cabinda separatists of the Cabinda Liberation Front in the area of Bumbelabuto, about 36 kilometres to the southeast.

Fighting continues in the localities of Prata, Talibeca and Talicuna, preventing the return of local residents who have fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire.

"We cannot return to our villages because all roads are littered with land mines, one local resident told ANGOP.

However, military officials said the situation had calmed in the region.