Rebels say 29 Chinese will soon be released
Source: Agencies |
February 7, 2012, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Sudanese rebels said yesterday that 29 Chinese workers held in the border state of South Kordofan, where the army has been fighting insurgents for months, would be released "soon."
Rebels kidnapped the Chinese construction workers on January 28 after attacking a camp of a Chinese company operating at a road construction site in oil-producing South Kordofan, which borders newly-independent South Sudan.
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North rebels abducted 29 of the 47 Chinese workers in the camp, while the other 18 workers fled.
The Sudanese army found 17 Chinese workers later and took them to safety, but one worker went missing. Yesterday, Sudan told China the body of the missing worker was found.
"The Chinese workers will be released soon and talks between the SPLM-North and the Chinese government continue," said rebel spokesman Arnu Ngutulu Lodi.
He said airstrikes by the Sudanese army were obstructing the release, adding that the SPLM-North now awaited an agreement between Sudan and China to arrange a handover.
'In fine spirits'
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told reporters in Beijing yesterday that embassy diplomats had been in contact with the kidnapped workers by telephone.
"At present, the health of those who have been kidnapped is good, they are in fine spirits, and work to rescue them is ongoing. China is using various channels and taking all available actions to get rescue operations going, but I cannot give details for security reasons," Liu said.
The kidnapping is the third of Chinese citizens in Sudan since 2004.
The Sudanese army has been fighting SPLM-North rebels in South Kordofan since June. The violence spread to the northern Blue Nile state in September.
The fighting has forced 417,000 people to flee their homes, more than 80,000 of them to South Sudan.
Both states contain large groups who sided with the south in a decades-long civil war, and who say they continue to face persecution inside Sudan since South Sudan seceded in July.
The SPLM is now the ruling party in the independent south. It denies charges from Khartoum that it is supporting the SPLM-North rebels across the border.
Rebels kidnapped the Chinese construction workers on January 28 after attacking a camp of a Chinese company operating at a road construction site in oil-producing South Kordofan, which borders newly-independent South Sudan.
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North rebels abducted 29 of the 47 Chinese workers in the camp, while the other 18 workers fled.
The Sudanese army found 17 Chinese workers later and took them to safety, but one worker went missing. Yesterday, Sudan told China the body of the missing worker was found.
"The Chinese workers will be released soon and talks between the SPLM-North and the Chinese government continue," said rebel spokesman Arnu Ngutulu Lodi.
He said airstrikes by the Sudanese army were obstructing the release, adding that the SPLM-North now awaited an agreement between Sudan and China to arrange a handover.
'In fine spirits'
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told reporters in Beijing yesterday that embassy diplomats had been in contact with the kidnapped workers by telephone.
"At present, the health of those who have been kidnapped is good, they are in fine spirits, and work to rescue them is ongoing. China is using various channels and taking all available actions to get rescue operations going, but I cannot give details for security reasons," Liu said.
The kidnapping is the third of Chinese citizens in Sudan since 2004.
The Sudanese army has been fighting SPLM-North rebels in South Kordofan since June. The violence spread to the northern Blue Nile state in September.
The fighting has forced 417,000 people to flee their homes, more than 80,000 of them to South Sudan.
Both states contain large groups who sided with the south in a decades-long civil war, and who say they continue to face persecution inside Sudan since South Sudan seceded in July.
The SPLM is now the ruling party in the independent south. It denies charges from Khartoum that it is supporting the SPLM-North rebels across the border.
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