Zambia mine shootings raise tensions with China

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A Zambian judge has granted bail to two Chinese men charged with attempted murder in a mine shooting that has revived an outcry against foreign employers in the southern African nation.

Chinese managers at a mine in the southern part of the nation used shotguns to fire at a gathering of workers last month.

The miners, who were protesting poor labor conditions, were unarmed, according to Zambian government officials.

At least 11 miners were wounded.

"Where did the Chinese get the right to shoot innocent Zambians, including my son," asked Leonard Kapwizi.

Kapwizi's question reverberates with other Zambians, some of whom say foreign employers are increasingly above the law. Kapwizi's son, Vincent Chenjele, was hospitalized.

Three Chinese employees were also injured and mine equipment damaged, according to Chinese state media.

The two suspects --detained for more than two weeks -- appeared before a judge Tuesday on 13 counts of attempted murder. They were ordered to surrender their passports.

The shooting at Collum is the latest in a string of attacks between Zambian workers and Chinese managers at the coal mine.

In June, Zambian state media reported that a Chinese national

"escaped lynching by an angry mob"

after 22 miners were seriously injured in a gas explosion.

In late 2009, Collum mine workers

"threw missiles"

at Chinese managers after receiving

"slave wages,"

according to Zambian state media.

Zambian officials have worked to quell the anti-Chinese outbursts that have followed such incidents.

"Let us be careful that we don't single out [Chinese] people,"

President Rupiah Banda said after the recent shootings.

"Every day people are shot by Zambians; are shot by white people; are shot by the Americans; they are shot by everybody. You know this business of Chinese! Chinese! It's like you want to create a phobia against people."