Embassy: Abducted workers not freed
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China.org.cn, January 31, 2012
None of the 29 Chinese workers abducted by rebels in the South Kordofan region of Sudan have been released, an embassy official confirmed in Sudan on Monday.
![Sudanese rebels [File photo]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20120131/000cf1bdd03f10918b2a01.jpg "Sudanese rebels [File photo]") |
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Sudanese rebels [File photo] |
The Chinese embassy is working with the Sudanese authorities in an attempt to rescue the 29 Chinese kidnapped by the rebels.
A camp of the Sinohydro Corp Ltd was attacked during a clash between the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army-North and the Sudanese military last Saturday.
A group of 47 Chinese workers working at the camp became separated during the attack.
"When the rebels attacked the company camp near Al-Abbasiya town in South Kordofan, there were 47 Chinese workers. Twenty-nine of them were abducted and 18 fled to neighboring areas," the embassy official said.
The Sudanese army found the other 17 workers and transferred them to safety, an embassy official told Xinhua News Agency. However, another Chinese worker is still missing.
"Search efforts are under way for the missing worker," he added.
Sudan People's Liberation Army spokesman Arno Taloudy, speaking from the Kenyan capital Nairobi, claimed that the 29 workers "have been transported to a safe area and they are in good health and in safe hands". The Sudan People's Liberation Army-North said it was holding the workers for their own safety.
Armed clashes in the oil-producing state, just north of newly independent South Sudan, have erupted frequently over the past few months.
Neither the embassy official nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing confirmed a Sudanese report on Monday that 14 of the 29 workers had been "liberated" by Sudan's armed forces.
An embassy official in Sudan said on Monday that the embassy sent a four-people work group to help Sudanese authorities to rescue the 29 workers.
Sinohydro Corp Ltd has a $63 million road project in the area. It evacuated its remaining staff to safer locations. The company said it would also start evaluating the safety of, and improve security measures around, its other compounds in Sudan.
The Ministry of Commerce on Monday warned Chinese firms in Sudan of security risks while urging them them to improve security measures to ensure safety.
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