The safety of Chinese personnel abroad is being "evaluated", the Foreign Ministry said yesterday, reaffirming its position that the Ethiopia attacks will not stop the nation's enterprises investing in Africa.

A pre-dawn raid on a Chinese-run oil facility in Ethiopia on Tuesday killed nine Chinese and 65 Ethiopians. One Chinese was injured while another seven were abducted.

"The Chinese side is working to rescue the abducted Chinese workers," the ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular news conference.

"At the same time, relevant departments are evaluating safety for Chinese companies investing overseas with a view to providing security guarantees for them."

The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a separatist rebel group that is fighting for the independence of ethnic Somalis in Ethiopia's eastern Ogaden region, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

A London-based spokesman for the ONLF said they had no plans to hold the Chinese as hostages, according to a Reuters report.

"We do not want to keep any hostage," he told Radio France Internationale, saying no ransom demands had been made. But he gave no details about when the Chinese would be freed.

The names of the nine killed Chinese workers, age 27 to 40, were made public yesterday.

A work group that China sent to deal with the issue arrived in Ethiopia late on Wednesday and will work with the embassy officials and related parties to rescue the abducted workers, Liu said.

The bodies had been properly handled and their families had been informed, he added.

China supports its enterprises to conduct economic cooperation in other countries, including those in Africa, Liu said.

"This is our set policy and it will not change."

China has asked its enterprises to improve safety awareness, and countries that cooperate with Chinese companies to provide security guarantees, Liu said.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), parent of the Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau - the company targeted in the Ethiopian attack - also said the tragedy will not stop its investment in the African country.

About 7,000 Chinese companies are believed to have invested overseas.

Source: China Daily