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.

中国9名石油工人在埃塞俄比亚遭枪杀

 
英国《金融时报》记者联合报道
2007年4月25日 星期三
 
埃塞俄比亚东部一个偏远的石油勘探地点昨日发生武装袭击事件，造成74人死亡，其中包括9名中国石油工人。这是中国前往非洲寻求原材料以来，非洲发生的伤亡最大的涉华事件。

欧加登国民解放战线(Ogaden National Liberation Front)的分离主义叛乱分子在一封电子邮件中宣布对此次事件负责，但他们似乎并非特别针对中国人。中国已经与埃塞俄比亚总理梅莱斯•泽纳维(Meles Zenawi)领导的政府发展了紧密的关系。

然而，该组织成员在袭击之前曾多次发出警告，要求外国石油公司离开他们的地区。

该组织的发言人阿卜杜拉曼•迈赫迪(Abderaman Mahdi)表示，其武装人员与保护该勘探点的埃塞俄比亚士兵发生了交火，导致了这些伤亡。他表示，包括那些中国人在内，所有平民伤亡都是在交火中发生的。他补充道，该组织还绑架了5名中国工人，并将与国际红十字组织(International Red Cross)联系，以便释放他们。

他在电话中表示：“非常不幸。但是，我们不允许任何人在未经我们允许的情况下，在我们的土地上钻探。埃塞俄比亚人并不控制欧加登，而且我们已经警告过中国人，我们不会允许他们在那里钻探。他们未经我们允许就想拿走我们的财富。”

“中国人曾经受欢迎，”这位发言人补充道，“但是现在，他们自己正在变成殖民者。最初是俄罗斯人，然后是美国人，现在是他们。”

近年来，中国政府及国有企业已经大幅增加了在非洲的投入，主要是为了获取本国工业所需的自然资源。埃塞俄比亚已探明的石油和天然气储量很少，但分析人士认为，欧加登地区有很大开发潜力，特别在天然气方面。这个偏远地区与索马里相邻，两国70年代曾经在此发生战争。