http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/sudan/9047527/Chinese-workers-captured-by-Sudan-South-Kordofan-rebels.html
Chinese
workers captured by Sudan South Kordofan rebels Rebels in Sudan's South
Kordofan state have captured 29 Chinese workers after a battle with
government forces, according to an insurgent spokesman.
3:43PM GMT 29 Jan 2012
ine members of the
*Sudan<
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/sudan>
* Armed Forces (SAF) were also being held, Arnu Ngutulu Lodi of the Sudan
People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), told the AFP news agency.
"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 by AFP.
But the embassy told China's official Xinhua news agency that more than 20
Chinese nationals were missing after a rebel attack on the camp of a
Chinese company.
Xinhua quoted an official as saying the embassy "has started implementation
of the emergency mechanism to follow up the issue" and contact Sudanese
authorities.
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.
*Source: AFP*
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Received on Sun Jan 29 2012 - 12:15:50 EST
