On March 13 members of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) in western Sudan kidnapped two Chinese construction workers. The source for the accusation was the Chinese embassy in Khartoum. A subsequent report said the two men were helping drill water wells near Buram City. On March 17 the Chinese government officially asked the Sudanese government to rescue the workers. The two men are employees of the North China Construction Co. Sudan reported that contact had been made with the two men and they had not been harmed. Several rebel groups in Sudan see China as an ally of the Sudanese Muslim government in Khartoum. And guess what it is. China is a major buyer of Sudanese-produced oil.