---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 8:41 AM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Chinese workers held in Nuba Mountains To: Group <[email protected]>
1. SPLM-N Statement: Sunday January 29th, 2012 The SPLM-N is a national liberation movement that seeks democracy, just peace, equal citizenship and social justice. It has been attacked by the dictator General Omar al-Bashir who is indicted by the international criminal court and who displaced more than half a million citizens of Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile, banned the SPLM-N, committed war crimes, and denies access to humanitarian assistance. SPLM-N has nothing against China and the Chinese, and it is part of the forces that are looking for peace, stability, and co-existence worldwide. The leadership of the SPLM-N and I, the Secretary General, together with the SPLM-N Chairman are exerting the maximum effort to obtain accurate information from our forces in the field regarding the Chinese who were detained in Southern Kordofan. If it is SPLA-N forces that the Chinese citizens are with, be assured that they will be in safe hands and they will be released. What we stand for before and after this incident are democracy and a just peace. This should be better understood by China and that the National Congress government of General Bashir is a government that will never deliver good relations between Sudan and China. They are massacring and committing war crimes against the Sudanese people and therefore they cannot sustain relations with any country in the world. The interests of China and the international community are better served by the democratic forces in Sudan. We are right now in contact with Beijing through one of the SPLM-N’s associates in Beijing to assist in resolving this situation. Yasir Arman, Secretary General, Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North January 29, 2012 END1 2. Sudan: China company working to free missing team BBC 30 January 2012 Last updated at 03:45 GMT The employer of some 29 Chinese workers held by rebels in Sudan's volatile South Kordofan region says it has set up an emergency body to handle the situation. Wang Zhiping, a senior executive of the company, told Chinese state media that officials were "doing everything possible'' to rescue the workers. The rebels said the workers were caught in crossfire with the army. They were said to be safe and "in good health". "Yes, we have captured them," Arnu Ngutulu Lodi of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) told the AFP news agency on Sunday. "I want to assure you right now they are in safe hands." However, Mr Wang told Xinhua news agency that the Power Construction Corporation workers were attacked as they worked on a road construction project. China's foreign ministry said in a statement that the camp the workers were staying in was attacked on Saturday afternoon. "Currently, the Sudanese government is doing their utmost to locate and rescue the missing Chinese nationals and has enhanced protection for other Chinese nationals in Sudan," said ministry spokesman Liu Weimin. South Kordofan is one of three areas hit by conflict since South Sudan became independent from Sudan in July. Abyei and Blue Nile along with South Kordofan lie along the loosely demarcated border between Sudan and South Sudan. The rebel spokesman said the workers were captured - along with nine Sudanese soldiers - after the SPLM-N attacked and destroyed a Sudanese military convoy in the area. Sudan's army said the rebels had attacked the compound of a Chinese construction company and captured 70 civilians. "Most of them are Chinese. They are targeting civilians," army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad told Reuters news agency. He said the army had launched an operation to rescue them. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16784009 END2 3. China says contact cut with workers held in Sudan Mon Jan 30, 2012 1:49am GMT BEIJING Jan 30 (Reuters) - China's embassy in Sudan has lost contact with 29 Chinese construction workers held by rebels in the strife-troubled border state of South Kordofan, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Monday. The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) said on Sunday it was holding the Chinese workers for their own safety after a battle with the Sudanese army. The army has been fighting the SPLM-N in South Kordofan bordering newly independent South Sudan since June. But Beijing has said the workers were abducted and a Chinese Embassy official in Sudan told Xinhua they were out of contact. "The abducted Chinese personnel have had all communications links with the outside world cut," the unnamed official said, according to Xinhua. The fate of the workers has become a major news story in China, where the nation's expanding presence abroad -- and awareness of its rising status -- has triggered intense public sensitivity about nationals killed or taken hostage. "The unstable political situation is the root reason for attack, and the possibility cannot be excluded that the rebels are targeting Chinese as a bargaining chip with the government," Li Xinfeng, a researcher on African affairs at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the China Daily newspaper. Sudan, where China maintains major interests in oil and infrastructure building, has been a focus of those anxieties. Sudan and South Sudan, at odds over a range of issues including oil revenues, regularly trade accusations of supporting insurgencies on each other's territory. South Kordofan is the main oil-producing state in Sudan. The SPLM is now the ruling party in the newly independent south of Sudan and denies supporting SPLM-North rebels across the border. 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. Initial Chinese reports said 20 or more workers were taken by the rebels, who attacked the compound of a Chinese construction company operating in the area between the towns of Abbasiya and Rashad in South Kordofan. 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", Xinhua said. (Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Nick Macfie) http://af.reuters.com/article/sudanNews/idAFL4E8CU0MT20120130?sp=true END3 4. Sudan says 14 Chinese workers freed in South Kordofan January 29, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The governor of South Kordofan Ahmed Haroun announced that 14 out of the 29 Chinese workers kidnapped by rebels from the Sudan People Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) on Saturday have been freed following an operation conducted by the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF). Earlier today, the SPLM-N announced that it took the construction workers into custody during the attack they launched on Sudanese military convoy between the towns of Rashad and Al-Abbasiya . SAF military spokesperson al-Sawarmi Khalid Sa’ad said that there is a total of 70 workers captured. "Yes, we have captured them," SPLM-N spokesman Arnu Ngutulu Lodi told Agence France Presse (AFP). "I want to assure you right now they are in safe hands." None of the Chinese workers were wounded, he said. Nine SAF soldiers are also in SPLM-N hands, Lodi said. Sinohydro Corporation Ltd. was reportedly working in the construction of the roads between the towns of Al-Abbasiya and Rashad near al- Magrah area. Sudan’s army said it is pursuing the rebels with the goal of releasing the workers. The Chinese foreign ministry urged Khartoum to take measures to rescue the workers and ensure the safety of all Chinese citizens in the country. "The Chinese Foreign Ministry and the Chinese embassy to Sudan have initiated an emergency response to the incident," Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said, according to Xinhua. "Currently the Sudanese government is doing their utmost to locate and rescue the missing Chinese nationals and has increased protection for other Chinese nationals in Sudan," Weimin added. South Kordofan governor said the 14 workers were relocated to North Kordofan’s capital town of Al-Obayid adding that they are in good health. He said that work is underway to release the reaming workers. Haroun further said that the town of Al-Abbasiya is under full control of SAF and that life there returned to normal. Sudan’s oil-producing state of South Kordofan, which borders the newly independent state of South Sudan and the war-battered region of Darfur, descended into violence since last June when SAF clashed with SPLM-N led by Abdul Aziz al-Hilu who was Haroun’s deputy. (ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/Sudan-says-14-Chinese-workers,41445 END4 ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan, South Sudan Advisor [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +211 919 695 362 (South Sudan mobile) +27 82 050 1235 (South Africa mobile) +44 750 304 1790 (UK/international) +88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone) PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation -- The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. 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