Two Sudanese rebels convicted of killing Chinese oil workers executed
September 15, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – Two members of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) convicted of killing five Chinese oil workers in Abu Dafra oilfield in West Kordofan state in October 2008 were executed on Sunday in Khartoums’s Kober prison.
Ahmed Mohamed Adam and Idris Bahar were among a group of JEM fighters who allegedly attacked workers in al-Muglad oilfields killing 5 Chinese and wounding a Sudanese soldier.
On October 18, 2008, a group comprising of 35 armed men belonging to JEM kidnapped 9 Chinese oil workers and a Sudanese driver while they were working at Kanar area in Abu Darfa oilfiled and took them to al-Ugda area.
Sudanese authorities discovered bodies of 5 oil workers a few days later and handed them over to the Chinese embassy in Khartoum.
Dead bodies were cremated in al-Markhiyat area north of Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman in the presence of Chinese diplomats and remains were transferred to their families in China.
The court has acquitted 17 suspects and convicted Adam and Bahar who were executed upon insistence of the families of victims on retribution.
Bahar is the brother of JEM leader, Mohamed Bahar, who had been sentenced to death following JEM’s attack on Omdurman in 2008 but later received presidential pardon after signing of the Doha peace agreement in July 2011.
On 10 May, a large group of JEM rebels attacked Omdurman in what was known as “Operation Long Arm”.
Following the attack, the Sudanese government sentenced 82 JEM fighters, including senior commanders, to death by hanging as guilty of terrorism and illegal possession of weapons.
Oil workers continued to be targeted by rebel groups in West and South Kordofan states. On 18 April, an armed group kidnapped three foreign oil workers including two Chinese and an Algerian during an attack on Kanar oil field in West Kordofan state.
(ST)