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Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North chairman Malik Agar /AFP

World

Sudan rebels say six captives are civilian engineers

Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North chairman Malik Agar /AFP

KHARTOUM, February 11 – Rebels in Sudan are holding captive six Sudanese civilian engineers who worked with a group of Chinese freed by the rebels several days ago, a spokesman for the insurgents said on Saturday.

The engineers were initially suspected to be security agents working in the war-torn state of South Kordofan, Arnu Ngutulu Lodi, of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), told AFP.

“They are engineers,” he said. “According to the information I got… they are not security.”

Lodi said the engineers are fine, and the rebels are prepared to release them.

On Tuesday, the 29 Chinese workers held by SPLM-N for 11 days were released and flown to Kenya on a Red Cross aircraft from South Kordofan, where rebels since June have been fighting with government troops.

Both the Sudanese and the Chinese were captured on January 28 when the SPLM-N destroyed a Sudanese military convoy between Rashad town and Al-Abbasiya and took over the area, the rebels said.

Sudan’s military said the workers had been taken hostage.

Beijing lodged a formal protest with Khartoum over their capture and dispatched a six-member team to help gain their freedom.

China’s official news agency said the workers, who were involved in a road-building project, were taken after a rebel attack on their camp.

Prior to the release of the Chinese, fighting between rebels and government troops continued between Rashad town and Al-Abbasiya, the United Nations humanitarian agency said on Thursday.

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“Injured people were reportedly transported to Um Ruwaba (North Kordofan) for treatment,” it said.

The UN has backed statements by the United States that there could be a famine unless urgent aid is allowed to enter South Kordofan and nearby Blue Nile state, where Sudan has severely restricted the work of foreign relief agencies.

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