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A judge in South Africa has ruled a controversial arms shipment bound for Zimbabwe can be unloaded but cannot be transported across the country.

The Chinese ship is anchored off Durban carrying rocket propelled grenades, mortar rounds and ammunition.

Human rights groups had petitioned for a block on the arms. Earlier dockers had refused to unload the shipment.

The row comes amid continuing tension in Zimbabwe over the failure to publish election results.

The South African Litigation Centre rights group had called for the blocking of a permit allowing the arms to be offloaded from the An Yue Jiang and transported.

The ship has been off the coast since Monday.

South Africa's government had said it could not legally prevent the arms being transported through the country.

Critics say Zimbabwe's Zanu-PF government will use the weapons to further suppress democratic rights, as accounts continue to emerge of the beating of opposition supporters.

'Nothing to do with us'

The ship contains three million rounds of ammunition for AK-47s, 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades and several thousand mortar rounds, according to South Africa's Mail and Guardian newspaper.

The weapons are packed in large red and blue containers piled high on the ship's decks, says the BBC's Adam Mynott in Durban.

There are Chinese crew on board and the ship is flying both the Chinese and South African flags, said our correspondent after he went to look at the ship anchored 18km (11 miles) from the entrance to Durban harbour.

The Mail and Guardian reports that a subsidiary of a state-owned South African company, Armscor, was approached to handle the transport of the weapons after several private companies refused to handle the cargo due to its sensitivity.

South African Defence Secretary January Masilela said the country's National Conventional Arms Control Committee had given approval for the transit of the weapons.

"If the buyer is the Zimbabwean sovereign government and the seller is the Chinese sovereign government, South Africa has nothing to do with that," he said.

Mr Masilela added that there was no United Nations or African Union embargo on weapons sales to Zimbabwe.

Speaking in New York, South African President Thabo Mbeki echoed his defence secretary's comments.

Several Western countries have banned arms shipments to Zimbabwe, as has the European Union.

'Military regime'

With continuing tension in Zimbabwe over the failure of the authorities to issue results from the presidential election three weeks ago, the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu), said it would be "grossly irresponsible" to allow the cargo through.

"The South African government cannot be seen as propping up a military regime," said Satawu General Secretary Randall Howard.

Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said the weapons were not needed because Zimbabwe was not at war.

"The only war that is there is Mugabe's war against the people," said Mr Tsvangirai who maintains his opposition MDC won the presidential election outright.

Zimbabwe's Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga insisted no country had the right to stop the arms entering his country.

"Every country has got a right to acquire arms. There is nothing wrong with that. If they are for Zimbabwe, they will definitely come to Zimbabwe," he told South African radio.

For its part, China says the shipment is part of normal trade relations with Zimbabwe.

"China has always had a prudent and responsible attitude towards arms sales," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement sent to the Reuters news agency.

"One of the most important principles is not to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries," it said.