Sudan FM says pro-government militia behind Chinese abduction

November 1, 2008 (CAIRO) – A senior Sudanese official disclosed today that the group behind the kidnapping of Chinese oil workers are members of a pro-government that fought in the South of the country during civil war years.

Nine Chinese oil workers, three engineers and six other workers employed by the China National Petroleum Corporation in South Kordofan were kidnapped on October 18. Four were killed and three were injured in alleged clashes with the kidnappers.

The Sudanese government accused members of Darfur Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) of standing behind the operation.

However Sudan’s foreign minister Deng Alor reversed Khartoum’s earlier assertions on the identity of the kidnappers.

“The group who kidnapped the hostages was part of a militia assisting the Sudanese government to fight the Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA)” Alor said at a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart in Cairo.

“After the war they were not integrated into the army and they continued to bear arms and residing in Kordofan. They started carrying out looting which we did not expect to reach that level” he added.

Alor is believed to be referring to the Misseria tribe who fought alongside Khartoum during the North-South war that ended in 2005.

The head of the kidnappers, Abu Humaid Ahmed Dannay had told the London based Asharq Al-Awsat accused the government of killing the oil workers during a failed rescue operation.

Dannay refused labeling the operation as a terrorist one and vowed to carry out more abduction in the future.

“The government is terrorizing us and we will respond in a similar manner” he said.

The killings were some of the worst attacks against Chinese interests abroad as China expands businesses worldwide to buy energy and other raw materials or find new markets.

(ST)