CHINESE OIL WORKERS IN ETHIOPIA MASSACRE By William Wallis in London, Matthew Green in Nairobi and Richard McGregor in Beijing
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Nine Chinese oil workers were among 74 people killed in an attack on a remote oil exploration site in eastern Ethiopia, the deadliest incident involving the Chinese since a pursuit of raw materials took them to Africa.
Responsibility for the massacre was claimed in an e-mail statement by separatist rebels of the Ogaden National Liberation Front, but does not appear to have specifically singled out the Chinese, who have developed close ties with prime minister Meles Zenawi's government.
However, the attack follows repeated warnings by members of the ONLF for foreign oil companies to leave their area.
Abderaman Mahdi, a spokesman for the rebels, said the deaths followed a battle between their fighters and Ethiopian soldiers protecting the exploration site. Any civilians killed – including the Chinese – were in the crossfire, he said. He added that the ONLF had taken five Chinese workers alive, and would be in touch with the International Red Cross to return them.
“It is very unfortunate. But we don't allow anybody to drill on our land without our permission. The Ethiopians do not control the Ogaden and we have warned the Chinese that we will not allow them to drill there. They want our wealth without our consent,” he said by phone.
“The Chinese used to be more populist,” the spokesman added, “but now they are turning into colonialists themselves. First there were the Russians, then the Americans, now it is them.”
The Chinese government and state-owned companies have ramped up their commitment to Africa in recent years, mainly to secure resources needed to power industry at home. Ethiopia's proven reserves of oil and gas are minimal but analysts believe there is potential, particularly for gas, in the Ogaden. The remote region, which borders Somalia, was the scene for a war between the two countries in the 1970s.
