4 Chinese workers abducted in Darfur
2013-01-14 07:39
Khartoum - Unknown armed men have kidnapped four Chinese
workers in Sudan's troubled Darfur region, the state news agency SUNA said on
Sunday.
The assailants abducted the Chinese - one engineer and three
drivers - together with five Sudanese colleagues late on Saturday near
al-Fasher in North Darfur, SUNA said, adding that all had been working for a
Chinese road company.
Authorities were pursuing the kidnappers with 18 military
vehicles, SUNA said, without giving further details.
China is Sudan's biggest ally and largest investor in the
oil industry there as well as in Khartoum's archrival South Sudan. Chinese
firms are ever-present in Sudan, as most Western firms shun the African country
due to a US trade embargo.
Sudan has sought to assure China that it would protect its
firms after rebels in Sudan's main oil-producing state of South Kordofan
kidnapped 29 Chinese workers in January 2012. They were released almost two
weeks later.
China also gives extensive aid to Sudan, even in dangerous
places such as Darfur where law and order has collapsed since mainly non-Arab
tribes took up arms against the government in Khartoum, which they accuse of
neglecting them.
Gunmen often kidnap foreigners in Darfur to demand a ransom
for their release.
In December, a Sudanese court handed out life sentences to
four Sudanese for killing a Chinese worker during a raid on a workers' oil
camp, the state-linked Sudanese Media Centre said. It gave no details.
Beijing has tried to help Sudan overcome the loss of most
oil reserves, the lifeline of the economy, when South Sudan became independent
in 2011.
Last week, Sudan's Finance Minister Ali Mahmoud told Reuters
China had granted the country a $1.5bn loan at a time when Sudan is trying to
stop a slide of its currency.
