Free Republic

China said on Thursday it was evaluating the safety of its workers abroad after an attack in Ethiopia that killed nine of its citizens but would continue encouraging Chinese businesses to operate in Africa. Ethiopian officials have said gunmen belonging to a rebel group, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), on Tuesday killed 65 Ethiopians and the Chinese at an oilfield about 100 km (60 miles) south of the regional capital Jijiga. China has condemned the killings, which underscored the risks of Beijing's eager push for investment and natural resources in Africa, sometimes in risky areas where Western multinationals fear...

ADDIS ABABA, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese embassy in Ethiopia on Tuesday confirmed that a group of unidentified gunmen attacked a Chinese oil company's premises early in the morning in Ethiopia's Somali state, causing heavy casualties. The embassy has formed an emergency team, maintaining close contact with the Ethiopian government and military, according to the Chinese Charge d' Affaires ad interim Zhang Yuebang. At least nine Chinese workers were killed during the attack, Xu Shuang, acting manager of the Chinese oil company, told Xinhua. Another seven Chinese workers were kidnapped by the gunmen, who also killed 65 Ethiopian employees...

A businessman from Hendon was sentenced to 47 years in prison on Monday after being found guilty of attempting to smuggle missiles into America. Clothing merchant Hemant Lakhani, 70, of Wykeham Road, was convicted in April this year of trying to sell shoulder-launched missiles to a Somali terrorist group to shoot down commercial airliners. The case centred on the evidence of the US government's key witness, Mohammed Habib Rehman, an informant posing as a representative of the Somali-based Ogaden National Liberation Front interested in buying missiles. The court in Newark, New Jersey, heard tape-recorded telephone conversations and viewed video surveillance...