hearing, but a ban on them travellingoutside Egypt remains.

Forty-three foreign and Egyptian non-profit workers are accused of receivingillegal funds from abroad, carrying outpolitical activities unrelated to theircivil society work and failing to obtainthe necessary operating licences. Thegroups, however, maintain they haverepeatedly tried to register in Egypt.

The tension has been building sinceMarch 2011, when Washingtonannounced plans to distribute $65m ingrants directly to pro-democracygroups in Egypt. Hundreds of localNGOs applied for the grants, angeringEgypt’s military rulers, who claimedthe direct funding bypassed proper gov-ernment channels.

A senior US official said that Washing-ton and Cairo were holding what hedescribed as ‘‘intense discussions’’ toresolve the crisis within days.

Analysts see the crackdown as part ofa broader campaign against civil societyinvolving intimidation tactics, mediavilification, and a probe into the bankaccounts of prominent activists. Acti-vists say the government’s witch-hunthas altered the way ordinary Egyptiansview civil society. Many NGO workersclaim they no longer feel welcome inthe neighbourhoods where they servethe poor, and some have been forcedout by angry mobs accusing them ofbeing foreign agents. (Sources as refer-enced in text) US concern over unprecedented

raids Vol. 48 p. 19104

SOUTH SUDAN –SUDAN – CHINAChinese Staff Freed

Oil rows and workers caught in thecrossfire force Beijing to developpolitical and military tools toaccompany its ever-growing eco-nomic muscle.

Sudan and South Sudan are dragging areluctant China into their smoulderingrelations at a time when both sides saythe situation is on the brink of openarmed conflict. Beijing’s ‘win-win’diplomacy in Africa serves it well whenthere are two winners. However, thecase of Chinese workers held by thearmed Sudanese opposition and theconflict between Juba and Khartoumover oil pose another test of Beijing’scommitment to non-interference, saysAfrica-Asia Confidential (February).

Problems over pipeline transit fees andthe use of export infrastructure hit anew level of crisis in mid-January. Asthe two Sudans’ relations deteriorated

(see p. 19154), China has urged calm,talks and solutions based on the princi-ple of mutual benefit. Foreign MinistrySpokesman Liu Weimin said that oilwas the shared livelihood of bothSudan and South Sudan.

The willingness of Chinese enterprisesto operate in any African environmenthas helped them to win contracts tobuild infrastructure but it has also putthem in harm’s way. 2011’s instabilityin Libya highlighted the political riskwhen Beijing evacuated thousands ofits nationals who were working on bigconstruction projects. This has not yetaltered the corporate culture of China’sstate-owned enterprises.

Beijing has not explained what work-ers from the state-owned Power Con-struction Corporation of China weredoing building roads in South Kordo-fan in the middle of an armed conflictthat has displaced more than 400,000civilians. The PCCC was working ona $63m road project financed by Chi-na’s Export-Import Bank. The opposi-tion Sudan Revolutionary Front(SRF) said it ‘‘will be used to supportthe National Congress’s genocidal mil-itary effort’’. The United States-basedSatellite Sentinel Project said the roadwas for military purposes, while localssaid it was to facilitate gold miningby a French outfit. Negotiations overthe captured workers mean that Beij-ing now has relations with a move-ment whose goal is to overthrowKhartoum’s National Congress Party(NCP). The SRF told Chinese diplo-mats that all Chinese companiesshould evacuate Blue Nile and SouthKordofan until the conflict wasresolved.

The SPLM-N fighters from the SRFcaptured 29workers at ElAbbasiya, nearTalodi, whilesome 18 fled andone died in thecrossfire with theSudan ArmedForces. Khar-toum describedthe workers as‘hostages’ but theSPLM ⁄A-N saidthat they were ina war zone andneeded to beevacuated. Whilenegotiating theworkers’ release,SPLM ⁄A-NChairman MalikAgar Eyre askedXie Xiaoyan, theAmbassador toEthiopia, if

China would intervene to help to createaid corridors for civilians threatened bystarvation and to pressure the NCP.Careful not to phrase his request as ademand, SPLM-N Secretary GeneralYasir Saeed Arman called on January31st for China to support the demand.Beijing’s Foreign Ministry sent a teamled by Qiu Xuejun, Deputy Director ofConsular Affairs, to Khartoum andNairobi on January 30th. The followingday, the ministry summoned Sudan’sCharge d’Affaires, Omer Eissa Ahmed,to express its concern at Khartoum’shandling of the crisis. Beijing laterpraised Khartoum’s efforts to persuadethe SPLM-N’s rebels to release theworkers. Government Spokesman Ra-bie Abdel Aati said troops in SouthKordofan worked with Chinese militaryadvisors on rescue plans.

In China, a debate raged on internet for-ums and social networks about overseassecurity. On February 9th, Yan Zhiyong,Party Secretary of PCC, and DeputyForeign Minister Zhang Ming welcomedthe 29 freed workers home. (Africa-AsiaConfidential, February)

MAGHREB – USBe Patient, but NotComplacent, Says Top Diplomat

The United States is closely watch-ing the new government in Tunis,but cautions that building a bettersociety takes time.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clintonon February 25th urged Tunisia, Alge-ria and Morocco to maintain themomentum of the Arab Spring throughdeepened democratic reforms, AFPreported.

Algeria

Adrar

Tamanrasset

Sidra

Tripoli

Libya

OranAlgiers

Rabat

Marrakech

WesternSahara

AbecheLake Chad

Agadez

Arlit

Kano

Abuja

Lagos

Ouagadougou

GhanaTogo

BeninCôte

d’Ivoire

Liberia

Guinea

SierraLeone

Kidal

Gao

Mopti

Burkina FasoBamako

Dakar

GambiaSenegal

GuineaBissau

Niger

Niorodu Sahel

Senegal River

CentralAfrican Republic

Cameroon

Gulf of Guinea

Nigeria

NigerChad

MaliMauritania

Nouakchott

Benghazi

Tunis

Mediterranean SeaTunisiaAtlanticOcean

AtlanticOcean

Timbuktu

Niamey

SikassoN’Djamena

Morocco

Overseas Relations19178 – Africa Research Bulletin

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� Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2012.