Andy, here is an example of oneof the evil things that China has been up to in east Africa- supporting the religious fanatics of the NIF junta in the Sudan, arming them, and helping them with oil projects, leadingto the deaths of 2,000,000 Africans....A very evil Government, China is....
Sudan Rebels Claim 23 Chinese CNPC Oil Workers Captured
CAIRO (AP) May 8 -- Armed Sudanese have taken captive 23 oil workers employed by the Chinese National Petroleum Corp during nearly a week of battling the government in the southern town of Bentiu, a southern rebel spokesman said Saturday.
It was not clear whether all were Chinese nationals or precisely when they were taken captive.
Yasser Arman, spokesman for the Sudan People's Liberation Army, told The Associated Press in Cairo that residents in oil-rich Bentiu "revolted against the oil companies working in the area," and took the experts captive. He spoke from his office in Eritrea.
The SPLA, which has been fighting for 16 years for autonomy for southern Sudan, was not involved in the kidnappings, Arman said. The rebel group, however, is willing to provide residents with any political or material support, he said.
Residents, according to Arman, are demanding the government appropriate a share of oil revenues to development projects and the improvement of local services.
An official at the Chinese Embassy in Khartoum, who did not provide her name, refused to answer any questions about the oil experts. Saturday was a holiday in Sudan, and officials at the Khartoum office of the Chinese National Petroleum Company were not available for comment.
Arman said Bentiu residents revolted May 2 against government troops and were joined by members of the pro-government militia of Riak Machar, president of the Southern States Coordination Council. President Omar el-Bashir set up the council in 1997, including SPLA breakaway factions in running day-to-day affairs in southern Sudan.
In Khartoum, Akhbar al-Youm daily quoted Machar in Saturday's newspaper as acknowldedging some of his troops were fighting government forces near Bentiu, 800 kilometers (500 miles) south of Khartoum in Wehda state. He denied knowledge of the oil experts.
Machar, also commander-in-chief of the south Sudan defense forces, was quoted by the pro-government Islamist daily Alwan as saying the clashes resulted from "a misunderstanding among field commanders."
Throughout the past week, the Sudanese government has been fighting rebels in eastern Sudan who are threatening to cut off oil pipelines and the highway linking Khartoum with the Red Sea city of Port Sudan.
On June 30, Sudan plans to export its first shipment of crude through a 1,600-kilometer (1,000-mile) pipeline that connects el-Obeid oil fields in Northern Kordofan province with Port Sudan.
SPLA forces are not far from several oil areas, Arman warned, saying that "oil sites are legitimate military targets."
The SPLA has been waging an insurrection since 1983, demanding greater autonomy from the Islamic-dominated government for the mainly Christian and animist south. More than 1.9 million Sudanese have died in the fighting and in war-related famines.
sudan.net |
