AP News, July 9th, 2007
A Chinese uranium company executive has been taken hostage in Niger, the government said Sunday, the latest kidnapping in Africa where China is seeking raw materials to feed its booming economy.
The official Xinhua News Agency said Zhang Guohua was abducted Friday in the region of Agadez, 460 miles northeast of the capital, Niamey.
It quoted the Chinese Embassy as saying Zhang was being held by a local Tuareg tribe, who were upset at the company's policy of employing people from the capital rather than locals.
A duty officer at the Foreign Ministry, who declined to be identified, confirmed a Chinese national had been kidnapped in the West African country.
"The Chinese Embassy has been asked to make representations with the Niger side for the release of the kidnapped Chinese citizen and to ensure the safety of staff at Chinese-funded companies and organizations in Niger," she said.
China's drive for raw materials, especially oil, has taken it to increasingly unstable locations. The kidnapping in Niger is one of a string of attacks against Chinese this year in Africa.
In April, nine Chinese workers and 65 Ethiopians were killed in an attack on a Chinese-owned oil exploration field in a disputed area of eastern Ethiopia. Seven other Chinese workers were held hostage for a week before being freed.
Sixteen Chinese nationals were kidnapped in Nigeria this year in three separate incidents, while in January, gunmen in Kenya killed one Chinese engineer and injured another working on a highway project.
Trade between China and Africa has soared fourfold this decade, to $40 billion in 2005. Beijing also has become a major supplier of aid, last year announcing $10 billion in assistance from 2006 to 2009.
