Sudan rebels say they captured 29 Chinese workers
7 min readKHARTOUM — Rebels in Sudan’s South Kordofan state have captured 29 Chinese workers after a battle with government forces, a spokesman for the insurgents said on Sunday.
Nine members of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) were also being held, Arnu Ngutulu Lodi of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), told AFP.
“Yes, we have captured them,” he said. “I want to assure you right now they are in safe hands.”
He said the Chinese have not been kidnapped and none was wounded.
They, along with the Sudanese, were captured on Saturday when the rebels destroyed a Sudanese military convoy between Rashad town and Al-Abbasiya in the northeast of the province, which has been at war since June.
Lodi said the Chinese were working mainly on road construction in the area.
They are being held in the Nuba mountains “until further notice” because of the security situation.
“Today is a little bit calm but we are expecting at any time SAF may launch an attack on us,” he said.
Spokesmen for the Sudanese army and the Chinese embassy could not be immediately reached for comment.
China is a major military supplier to the regime in Khartoum, and the largest buyer of Sudanese oil.
There is growing international concern over the situation in South Kordofan and nearby Blue Nile state, where a similar conflict broke out in September. The government is fighting ethnic minority insurgents once allied to the former rebels who now rule South Sudan.
The South gained independence from Khartoum last July after decades of civil war.
Food shortages would become critical without substantial aid deliveries into South Kordofan and Blue Nile by March, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, has said.
Khartoum has severely restricted the work of foreign relief agencies in the war zones.
It cited security concerns and also accused aid workers of using United Nations flights to deliver arms and ammunition to the rebels — a claim for which the UN’s top humanitarian official said there was “no evidence.”
Princeton Lyman, the US administration’s special envoy for Sudan, told reporters last week the situation is so dire Washington has warned Khartoum it would consider ways for aid to be sent in without Sudanese government approval.
Chinese Workers Are Reported Captured by Sudan Rebels
By KEITH BRADSHER and JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published: January 29, 2012
HONG KONG — More than two dozen Chinese road workers have been captured by a Sudanese rebel group, Chinese and Sudanese officials said on Sunday, underlining the risks for China in sending ever-greater numbers of its workers into some of the world’s most turbulent countries.
The rebels struck a remote camp used by Chinese road builders in South Kordofan province, an oil-rich area that has become a battlefield between the Sudanese government and rebel forces allied to the newly independent state of South Sudan. Sudanese officials said that the rebels had kidnapped more than 70 Chinese and Sudanese workers. It was not clear if anyone was killed in the attack, a Sudan army spokesman said.
Liu Weimin, a spokesman with China’s foreign ministry, said that diplomats from China and Sudan were holding emergency discussions, and according to the state-run new agency, Xinhua, the missing Chinese workers were helping to build a road as part of an ambitious and long-delayed plan to link two remote areas.
However, just last week Western human rights groups accused the Sudanese government of embarking on a road building campaign in Kordofan as a way to bring more troops into the region and crush the rebels there. Intense fighting broke out in Kordofan in June, right before South Sudan split off from Sudan.
The Kordofan rebels fought alongside southern rebels for years against the Arab-dominated government of Sudan and for many of the same reasons, complaining of marginalization and discrimination. Many analysts believe the new Southern Sudanese government is helping arm the Kordofan rebels as a way to destabilize Sudan, while at the same time, the Sudanese government is believed to be arming rebel groups in South Sudan. Since June, Sudanese warplanes have been relentlessly bombing Kordofan, killing many civilians there.
China has moved aggressively in the last decade to establish itself as a leading provider of infrastructure projects in sub-saharan Africa and elsewhere in the developing world, building highways, airports, bridges, dams and other big projects in areas that Western companies are leery of entering. Chinese state-owned companies have sent thousands of employees to do much of the work instead of training local residents, an approach that has sometimes produced faster results but can alienate local populations — and put Chinese workers at risk.
China is a longtime ally of Sudan, having supported the government in Khartoum against years of Western criticism over human rights violations. Chinese state-owned oil companies have invested heavily in Sudanese oil fields despite the political risks; Chinese energy executives have complained that Western multinationals locked up most of the best oil fields in stable countries long ago, forcing them to seek reserves in more volatile locations.
Neil Ashdown, an Asia and Pacific analyst based in London for IHS Global Insight, a consulting firm, said that Chinese firms differed from Western companies both in their willingness to venture into risky places and in terms of the number of people sent. Chinese workers are often more likely than Westerners to bring their families to join them, which means that even more Chinese may wind up living in dangerous locations.
At the same time, Chinese Internet users have become much more vociferous in the last three years in demanding that the Chinese government take every possible measure to protect Chinese citizens when they get in trouble, wherever that may be. Chinese Web users frequently compare Chinese government efforts unfavorably with those undertaken by Western governments, seldom noting that the sheer number of Chinese now living and working in unstable countries makes it hard to protect all of them.
China is the largest buyer of oil from Sudan. According to Global Trade Information Services, a data firm based in Columbia, South Carolina, China bought $9.38 billion worth of oil from Sudan last year, up from $6.55 billion in 2010.
Keith Bradsher reported from Hong Kong and Jeffrey Gettleman from Khartoum, Sudan
Sudan: Chinese held by rebels in South Kordofan
Rebels in Sudan’s volatile South Kordofan region say they are holding 29 Chinese workers who became caught up in a battle with the Sudanese army.
The rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) said the workers are safe and “in good health”.
China’s foreign ministry confirmed that some of their nationals were missing, but did not specify how many.
South Kordofan is one of three areas hit by conflict since South Sudan became independent from Sudan in July.
Abyei and Blue Nile along with South Kordofan lie along the loosely demarcated border between Sudan and South Sudan.
The Chinese nationals are reported to have been working on road construction projects in the area.
“Yes, we have captured them,” Arnu Ngutulu Lodi of the SPLM-N told the AFP news agency. “I want to assure you right now they are in safe hands.”
He said they were captured – along with nine Sudanese soldiers – after the SPLM-N attacked and destroyed a Sudanese military convoy in the area.
Sudan’s army said the rebels had attacked the compound of a Chinese construction company and captured 70 civilians.
“Most of them are Chinese. They are targeting civilians,” army spokesman Sawarmi Khalid Saad told Reuters news agency.
He said the army had launched an operation to rescue them.
More than 20 Chinese missing after attack in Sudan
The Seattle Times
Other details weren’t given, although the official Xinhua News Agency cited the state governor as saying the attack was launched by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army against a road-building site in South Kordofan. The Sudan People’s Liberation Army …
Sudan: Chinese held by rebels in South Kordofan
BBC News
Rebels in Sudan’s volatile South Kordofan region say they are holding 29 Chinese workers who became caught up in a battle with the Sudanese army. The rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) said the workers are safe and “in good health” …
Chinese Workers Are Reported Captured by Sudan Rebels
New York Times
The rebels struck a remote camp used by Chinese road builders in South Kordofan province, an oil-rich area that has become a battlefield between the Sudanese government and rebel forces allied to the newly independent state of South Sudan…
More than 2 dozen Chinese workers captured in Sudan attack
Washington Post
The attack took place Saturday in Sudan’s South Kordofan— a region rich in oil that abuts the newly established state of South Sudan— and escalated tensions between the two countries, one largely Muslim, the other dominated by Christians…
| Sudan rebels say they captured 29 Chinese workers AFP KHARTOUM — Rebels in Sudan’s South Kordofan state have captured 29 Chinese workers after a battle with government forces, a spokesman for the insurgents said on Sunday. Nine members of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) were also being held, Arnu Ngutulu … |
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