Communication blackout as 29 Chinese held
Source: Agencies |
January 31, 2012, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
REBELS in the Sudan border state of South Kordofan are still holding 29 kidnapped Chinese workers, Xinhua news agency said yesterday, contradicting a Sudanese report that 14 of them had been freed.
"The abducted Chinese personnel have had all communications links with the outside world cut," a Chinese Embassy official said in Khartoum.
He said the embassy had sent a four-person group to help Sudanese authorities rescue the Chinese nationals.
The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North said on Sunday that it had taken the 29 workers for their own safety after a battle with the Sudanese army.
The army has been fighting the SPLM-North in South Kordofan bordering on newly independent South Sudan since June.
Sudan's state SUNA news agency said the military had freed 14 of the workers.
However, the Chinese Embassy said that though 17 Chinese workers had been taken to safety by the Sudan army after they escaped the rebels, another 29 were still being held.
The workers were taken after rebels attacked the compound of a Chinese construction company in an area between the towns of Abbasiya and Rashad in South Kordofan.
Chinese news websites have set up special sections to follow developments.
By yesterday afternoon, the Sina news website had accumulated over half a million comments and reports about the workers were being circulated on its microblogging service.
"Wherever Chinese people go, there's always something that goes awry," was one comment. "It's not easy for Chinese people who want to make a bit of money," was another.
The evacuation of tens of thousands of Chinese workers trapped in Libya when fighting broke out there last year also become a major news event.
Sudan and South Sudan, at odds over a range of issues including oil revenues, regularly trade accusations of supporting insurgencies in each other's territory.
South Kordofan is the main oil-producing state in Sudan. The SPLM is the ruling party in newly independent South Sudan. South Sudan denies supporting SPLM-North rebels.
SPLM-North is one of a number of rebel movements in underdeveloped border areas which say they are fighting to overthrow Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and end what they see as the dominance of the Khartoum political elite.
Wang Zhiping, a manager for Sinohydro Corp Ltd that employs the workers, said the company and government agencies were "doing everything possible to rescue the missing workers," according to Xinhua.
"The abducted Chinese personnel have had all communications links with the outside world cut," a Chinese Embassy official said in Khartoum.
He said the embassy had sent a four-person group to help Sudanese authorities rescue the Chinese nationals.
The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North said on Sunday that it had taken the 29 workers for their own safety after a battle with the Sudanese army.
The army has been fighting the SPLM-North in South Kordofan bordering on newly independent South Sudan since June.
Sudan's state SUNA news agency said the military had freed 14 of the workers.
However, the Chinese Embassy said that though 17 Chinese workers had been taken to safety by the Sudan army after they escaped the rebels, another 29 were still being held.
The workers were taken after rebels attacked the compound of a Chinese construction company in an area between the towns of Abbasiya and Rashad in South Kordofan.
Chinese news websites have set up special sections to follow developments.
By yesterday afternoon, the Sina news website had accumulated over half a million comments and reports about the workers were being circulated on its microblogging service.
"Wherever Chinese people go, there's always something that goes awry," was one comment. "It's not easy for Chinese people who want to make a bit of money," was another.
The evacuation of tens of thousands of Chinese workers trapped in Libya when fighting broke out there last year also become a major news event.
Sudan and South Sudan, at odds over a range of issues including oil revenues, regularly trade accusations of supporting insurgencies in each other's territory.
South Kordofan is the main oil-producing state in Sudan. The SPLM is the ruling party in newly independent South Sudan. South Sudan denies supporting SPLM-North rebels.
SPLM-North is one of a number of rebel movements in underdeveloped border areas which say they are fighting to overthrow Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and end what they see as the dominance of the Khartoum political elite.
Wang Zhiping, a manager for Sinohydro Corp Ltd that employs the workers, said the company and government agencies were "doing everything possible to rescue the missing workers," according to Xinhua.
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