Sudanese Minister of Interior Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid announced on Monday that the Sudanese police had in its hand the list of criminals who abducted last month nine Chinese oil workers and killed five of them.

Accompanied by Chinese ambassador in Sudan Li Chengwen and Director General of the Sudanese Police Force Mohammed Najib al-Taib, the Sudanese minister of interior visited in a hospital in Khartoum four Chinese workers saved from the kidnappers.

"The criminals have been besieged and the police have the list of them," the Sudanese minister told Xinhua at the hospital.

He believed that the criminals would be captured soon and would stand trial for their crimes.

The Sudanese minister expressed sympathy and solicitude to the four Chinese oil workers who were receiving treatment at the hospital, and his condolences to the other five Chinese workers killed by the kidnappers.

"The Chinese companies and persons are participating positively in the process of development in Sudan not only in the petroleum sphere but also in a lot of other spheres where their role can not be ignored," the Sudanese minister noted.

He said that the kidnap and killing of Chinese workers was aimed at damaging the relations between Sudan and China, ruling out that the criminals could be successful.

Nine Chinese workers of the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation were kidnapped by a group of militants on Oct. 18. Five of them have been confirmed dead while the four others have been saved alive.

(Xinhua News Agency November 4, 2008)