Will Killing Of Oil Workers Harden China's Darfur Policy? -- Christian Science MonitorAt least three Chinese oil workers were killed by Darfur rebels Monday,according to the Sudanese government.
KHARTOUM, SUDAN; AND JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - But the accused rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), which has been fighting the Sudanese government for close to six years in Darfur, said it had nothing to do with the incident, accusing the government of trying to distract the international community from its own crimes in Darfur.
Nine employees of the China National Petroleum Corp. were kidnapped on Oct. 18 while working at an oil field in the central Sudanese state of South Kordofan, which neighbors the troubled Darfur region and straddles the contested border between Sudan's north and south.
"This is unprecedented in Sudan, to have kidnapping and killing of foreign workers by rebel groups," says Ted Dagne, a senior researcher on Sudan for the Congressional Research Service in Washington. Even so, there has been growing tension in the oil rich region of Kordofan in recent years, particularly ahead of next year's national elections. "It has been brewing for quite a while, the rebellion in Kordofan. And the government itself has been arming militias in this area. So, it's not clear who this was, and why it has happened now."
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My Comment: I would not be surprised to see Chinese military advisers soon advising Sudanese military and militia units. The Chinese are aligning themselves to the Sudanese Central Government, and the rebel groups are starting to notice this.