ONLF strike against Chinese/Ethio Oil exploration

[LANDER]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6588055.stm

[xiinfaniin]

Scores die in Ethiopia oil attack

 

Rebel gunmen have killed at least 74 people in an attack on an oil field in Ethiopia's remote Somali region, the Ethiopian government says.

Sixty-five Ethiopians and nine Chinese oil workers were killed, while seven Chinese were also taken captive in the incident, an official said.

 

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi called it a cold-blooded "massacre".

 

A spokesman for a separatist group, the ****** National Liberation Front, said it had launched the attack.

 

The clashes took place at an oil field in Abole, a small town about 120km (75 miles) from the regional capital, Jijiga.

 

"Something of a massacre has happened," Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said.

 

"It was a cold-blooded murder, we are pursuing the perpetrators and will see to it that it doesn't happen again."

 

An adviser to the prime minister, Berekat Simon, blamed the ONLF, which he said had the backing of the Eritrean government.

 

 

A spokesman for the ONLF in London, Abdirahman Mahdi, said Ethiopian troops had been forcing nomadic tribes to leave their traditional grazing areas.

 

"Because of that we had to take action," he said.

 

"We have warned the Chinese government and the Ethiopian government that... they don't have a right to drill there," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.

 

"Unfortunately nobody heeds our warning and we have to defend our territorial integrity."

 

He disputed the government's figures, saying seven Chinese were killed and five seized.

 

The captives were not being treated as hostages and would be handed over to appropriate authorities, he said.

 

"We will treat humanely all those under our protection."

 

A Chinese oil worker said about 200 gunmen attacked the field.

 

The workers were employed by the Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau, part of China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

 

Gunmen briefly took control of the field after a 50-minute fire fight with soldiers protecting it, Xu Shuang, a manager for the oil group, told the agency.

 

Violent politics

 

In recent years, China has been working to increase its influence and investment in Africa as it looks to secure energy supplies for the future.

 

The Somali region - known locally as the ****** - is known for its often violent clan politics, the BBC's Amber Henshaw reports from Addis Ababa.

 

The ONLF has in the past made threats against foreign companies working with the Ethiopian government to exploit the region's natural resources.

 

The ONLF has been waging a low-level insurgency with the aim of breaking away from Ethiopia.

 

The incident will also step up tensions in the region, which borders Somalia - where there are often clashes between Ethiopian troops and Islamists, our correspondent adds.

[xiinfaniin]

A timely attack. Raggeedii. The poor Chinese were caught in the firefight.

[me]

Ethnic Somali rebels kill 74 at Chinese oilfield in Ethiopia

 

 

Anita Powell in Addis Ababa

Tuesday April 24, 2007

Guardian Unlimited

 

Rebels stormed a Chinese-run oilfield in eastern Ethiopia today, killing 74 workers and destroying the facility, guerrillas and government officials said.

 

The ****** National Liberation Front, an ethnic Somali group that has fought alongside insurgents in Somalia, also kidnapped seven Chinese workers, said an Ethiopian government official, Bereket Simon. "This was a cold blooded killing," Mr Bereket, a special adviser to the Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi, told Associated Press. "This was organised."

 

The rebel group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement sent to AP. It also warned all international oil companies not to operate in the region.

 

China's official Xinhua News Agency identified the Chinese workers and Ethiopian guards as employees of the Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau, a division of a huge state-run oil company.

 

Xu Shuang, the general manager of Zhongyuan, based in Addis Ababa, said nine of its Chinese oil workers were killed, seven Chinese workers were kidnapped and 65 Ethiopians were killed.

 

The attack took place early this morning in Abole, a small town 75 miles from the Somali regional state's capital Jijiga, close to the Somali border. Mr Bereket said several Ethiopian soldiers were wounded in the gunbattle. "The army is pursuing them. We will track them down dead or alive. We will make sure these people will be hunted and be brought to justice."

 

He said the group was also linked to the Eritrean government, which Ethiopia has repeatedly accused of waging terror attacks. Eritrea denies the claims.

 

The countries fought a border war that ended in 2000 and are accused of backing rival sides in the Somali conflict.

 

China has increased its presence in Africa in recent years in the hunt for oil to fuel its rapidly growing economy. But forays into politically unstable areas have exposed Chinese workers to attacks.

 

The ****** National Liberation Front warned last year that it would not tolerate investment in the ****** area that also benefited the Ethiopian government. AP

[xiinfaniin]

^^Raggu waayadaan oo dhan bay caraysnaayeen dee...

Hal mar bay ciil beeleen~~

[me]

A new front has started. I hope that the ONLF can keep them bussy. The xabash will start new operations in the area, similar to the ones in Qoraxay/Wardheer last year.

[xiinfaniin]

I respect these ONLF fighters...they lay low and strike real hard. It's effective that way.

[Abwaan]

Allaahu Akbar. ka leexo waa rageedii.

[N.O.R.F]

Why no quotes from the ONLF? Phone chat with AJE last night was good. He spoke well.