Chinese official holds rare meeting with Sudan’s SPLM-N leaders
* Article
* Comments (12)
email Email
print Print
pdfSave
separation
increase
decrease
separation
separation
*
*
*
*
January 30, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The Chinese ambassador to Addis Ababa
Xie Xiaoyan met on Monday with the chairman of the Sudan People’s
Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) Malik Agar and the secretary
general Yasir Arman to discuss the release of workers kidnapped over
the weekend during clashes with Sudan Armed Forces (SAF).
JPEG - 34 kb
Chinese workers who escaped after being abducted arrive at Khartoum
Airport January 30, 2012 (Reuters)
In a statement released by SPLM-N, ambassador Xiaoyan and two other
officials who attended the talks were instructed by Beijing to follow
up on the situation relating to the missing workers employed by
Sinohydro Corporation Ltd that is constructing roads in South
Kordofan.
It was not clear from the press release where the meeting took place.
Last year Sudan asked the Interpol to issue Red notices for Arman and
Agar so that they would be arrested if they travelled abroad, on
charges of rebelling against the state and disturbing peace.
The rebel movement admitted that they captured more than two dozen
Chinese workers during their military assault on the town of
Al-Abbasiya, 390 miles (630 kilometres) south of Khartoum, but
promised to guarantee their safety.
The governor of South Kordofan, Ahmed Haroun, announced on Sunday that
14 of the 29 Chinese hostages had been freed through an operation
carried out by SAF. He added that they were relocated to North
Kordofan’s capital city of Al-Obayid.
Today Sudanese authorities changed the story and said that SAF freed
13 of the hostages, who were flown to Khartoum on Monday along with
the 23 who weren’t taken hostage.
But according to Xinhua news agency there were 47 Chinese workers at
the camp when it was attacked. 29 were abducted and 18 others fled to
neighbouring areas.
The Sudanese army found 17 of those who had fled nearby, although one
remains missing and had reportedly suffered gunshot wounds, according
to the Global Times newspaper.
The other 17 workers who have travelled to Khartoum were working at
another camp, Chinese media said.
Today the SAF spokesperson Al-Sawarmi Khalid Sa’ad was quoted by Sudan
news agency SUNA as saying that they sent reinforcements to South
Kordofan to “cleanse” it of SPLM-N forces.
Sa’ad warned that the army holds SPLM-N responsible for the safety and
well being of the 29 Chinese workers.
According to SPLM-N statement, the Chinese ambassador “stressed the
concern of China for the safety of the Chinese workers and for their
return home to their families and that China is not part of the
conflict in Sudan but rather the workers came for development projects
in Sudan”.
The SPLM-N officials on the other hand promised Xiaoyan that they will
“cooperate fully” with Beijing to secure the safe return of the
workers “as it is the time of the Chinese New Year celebration and the
SPLM-N would like those workers to be with their families during this
time”.
They also requested that China ensures that its workers be moved
“outside of the war zone in South Kordofan and Blue Nile” while
stressing that it welcomes the contribution of China in development
but only after the war ends.
“The SPLM-N calls upon China to contribute to the humanitarian
operation and to ask Khartoum government to open safe corridors for
humanitarian operations and access, which has been denied by the
National Congress leadership, and to call again upon China to support
the SPLM-N’s demand of an international investigation on the war
crimes; to stop the genocide by Khartoum and the impunity which
encourages more crimes against Sudanese people; and to support the
demand of the SPLM-N of a holistic approach that will end the tragedy
and misery of the Sudanese people and bring a just peace to Sudan.
Likewise, the SPLM-N asked the Chinese delegation to convey to
Khartoum that they should stop any military operations in the area
where the Chinese are present until their safe evacuation”.
The rebel movement said the Chinese envoy “expressed the appreciation
of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Government of the
SPLM-N’s understanding and cooperation and the need to continue the
dialogue and the relations between the two”.
China’s ambassador to Khartoum Luo Xiaoguang urged the Sudanese
government to work for the release of the workers.
"We hope that the Sudanese government will continue doing its utmost
to bring back the missing and abducted Chinese nationals as soon as
possible," Luo said, according to Xinhua.
SAF has been battling SPLM-N forces in South Kordofan since June 2011
after a dispute over the governor elections in which Haroun, the
incumbent governor, was running against his deputy Abdel-Aziz al-Hilu,
who is now leading the rebellion.
(ST)
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"South Sudan Info - The Kob" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected].
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob?hl=en.
