9 Chinese oil workers kidnapped in Sudan

[October 20, 2008]  KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) -- Nine Chinese oil workers were kidnapped in an oil-rich region of southwestern Sudan in the latest attack on China's interests in the African country, officials said Sunday.

Sudanese officials blamed a Darfur rebel group for Saturday's kidnapping, calling it a stab at development efforts in Sudan. The attack took place outside the western Darfur region and none of the Darfur rebel groups, who have fought the central government for five years, claimed responsibility.

But the rebels have targeted Chinese interests outside Darfur in the past, saying the Asian power's massive investments in Sudan's oil sector help the government in its fight in Darfur. A year ago, one of the Darfur rebel groups warned Chinese and other oil firms to leave the country.

It was the third attack on Chinese targets over the past 12 months.

International human rights groups and Darfur activists have also grown more critical of China's relationship with Sudan, saying the close ties help fuel the bloodshed in Darfur, which has left as many as 300,000 dead and driven more than 2.5 million from their homes since 2003.

China buys nearly two-thirds of Sudan's oil, and oil sales account for 70 percent of the African country's export revenue. Beijing is also believed to be the provider of most of Sudan's small arms, many of which are used in Darfur. Beijing, which has veto power in the U.N. Security Council, has resisted tough Security Council action against Sudan over the conflict.

The kidnapping occurred in the Kordofan region, which neighbors Darfur to the east and is the epicenter of Sudan's oil industry. It took place near the oil-rich region of Abyei, which is close to southern Sudan. The Chinese operate an oil field in the Heglig area of Kordofan, about 435 miles southwest of the capital, Khartoum.

China's ambassador to Sudan, Li Chengwen, said he had little information on the kidnapping but was doing his best to find the abducted workers.

Another Chinese diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the workers were abducted while in vehicles and others with them managed to flee and inform authorities.

The Sudanese commissioner of the Abyei region, Mohamed al-Dourik Bakhat, told the government-linked Sudan Media Center the kidnappers were from the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement. He said the kidnappers burned two of the oil workers' cars. One Sudanese driver got away, he said.

"The group that abducted those people is known to us as outlaws who have committed such follies many times against our police forces in the region," al-Dourik told The Associated Press. "It is a simple blackmailing for the companies working in the region."

A spokesman from the rebel JEM, Tahir al-Faki, said he had no information from field commanders that his group was behind the kidnapping, but acknowledged that his group has forces in the area. Al-Faki, speaking from London, said his group's aim has never been kidnapping but "distracting the Chinese from operating in the area because they provide the finances and the military means to (the government) to attack our forces."

This is the first time Chinese oil workers have been abducted in many years, although Chinese oil interests were targeted before. Earlier this year, a group of Indian oil workers were seized by disgruntled local tribes near the same area as Saturday's kidnapping.

The JEM rebels attacked the Chinese-run Defra oil field in Kordofan in October last year, kidnapped two foreign workers and gave Chinese and other oil companies a week to leave the country. Two months later, rebels from the same group attacked an army garrison in another Chinese-run oil field in the same province.

Another rebel group, Sudan's Liberation Movement-Unity faction, had said an August government offensive on their positions in northern Darfur was motivated by plans to usher in new Chinese oil exploration in the war-ravaged region. The group said Chinese companies coming into Darfur will be "military targets."

Other than the government-rebel tension, the oil wealth in Sudan has also been a source of local discontent. Residents complain the wealth doesn't trickle down.

China also has about 140 engineers and troops deployed in Darfur as part of a joint U.N.-African peacekeeping force. They were among the first reinforcements sent by the United Nations, which took over peacekeeping in Darfur in January.

The Sudanese government quickly approved the Chinese contingent, even as it vetoed contributions from other countries because they were not African.

[Associated Press; By SARAH EL DEEB]

Associated Press writer Mohamed Osman contributed to this report from Khartoum.

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