China deplores Ethiopia attack
Beijing seeks release of men abducted in attack on oilfield that left 74 dead.
Liu said China had asked Ethiopia to work for the safe return for the kidnapped workers. He said the ministry, the ministry of commerce and the Chinese embassy in Addis Ababa had formed an emergency team to deal with the incident.
Deadly attack
Tuesday’s attack by more than 200 fighters lasted about an hour, and followed a warning the Ogaden National Liberation Front made last year against any investment in eastern Ethiopia‘s Ogaden area.
The attack took place in Abole, a small town 120km from the state’s capital, Jijiga, close to the Somali border.
In recent years, the front has only made occasional hit-and-run attacks against government troops, making Tuesday’s attack its most significant one.
Formed from Ethiopia‘s minority Somalis, the Muslim group has fought for the secession of the Ogaden region, an area the size of Britain with four million people, since the early 1990s.
They also have been battling alongside members of the Union of Islamic Courts in Somalia.
Ethiopia is not an oil-producing country. But companies such as China‘s Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau, whose facility was attacked on Tuesday, and Malaysia‘s state-owned oil giant Petronas have signed exploration deals.