KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) - Unknown assailants kidnapped nine Chinese oil workers in southern Sudan, a Chinese diplomat in Khartoum said Sunday. The men were working Saturday when they were abducted in southern Kordofan province, the epicenter of Sudan's oil industry and next to Darfur where ethnic African rebels are fighting the Arab-dominated government.A search was under way for the men, the diplomat said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. Several workers were not taken and managed to inform authorities, he added.
The rebels, along with many international rights activists, accuse China of indirectly funding Khartoum's war effort in Darfur through massive investment in Sudan's oil industry. China buys two-thirds of Sudan's oil exports, and oil sales account for 70 percent of the African country's export revenue.
Darfur rebels attacked the Chinese-run Defra oil field in Kordofan last October, kidnapped two foreign workers and gave Chinese and other oil companies a week to leave the country. Two months later, Darfur rebels attacked an army garrison in another Chinese-run oil field in the same province.