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11/09/2005:

"Sudan at the head of a global sweep to mop up world's oil resources"

...Chinese business is blazing a trail across the continent. Trade with China has almost tripled in five years. Railways in Angola, roads in Rwanda, a port in Gabon and a dam in Sudan have all been paid for with Chinese loans and built by Chinese contractors. Business with Nigeria and South Africa is booming. And this year China is expected to overtake the UK as Africa's third largest trading partner.

The driving ingredient is oil. China's flagship African project is in Sudan. Isolation from the west meant that Khartoum barely pumped a barrel of crude a decade ago. Now, after intensive Chinese investment, it has the third largest oil business in sub-Saharan Africa.
guardian.co.uk