Darfur rebels release Chinese engineer

The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) on Friday released a Chinese engineer they had held since 14 March, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The SLA rebel group which is fighting in the Darfur region had detained two Chinese working in the western Darfur region on 14 March, but the second one had escaped a week ago, said the ICRC in a statement issued on Saturday. The engineer was working for a Chinese company drilling for oil in the northern part of Darfur, Ahmad Dirdeiry, the Sudanese deputy ambassador in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, told IRIN on Monday. He said the Chinese had been operating in the area for "some five years". Li Aijung had been handed over to the ICRC in its capacity as a neutral intermediary in the vicinity of Nyala, the capital of Southern Darfur State, with the full agreement of all the parties concerned, said the statement. He was later flown to the capital, Khartoum, and handed over to the Sudanese foreign ministry and the Chinese embassy, it added.