China pressurised over Darfur
2008-02-12 21:02
Washington - A group of Nobel Peace laureates sent a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao on Tuesday urging the Beijing Games host to uphold Olympic ideals by pressing its ally Sudan to stop atrocities in Darfur.
"As the primary economic, military and political partner of the Government of Sudan, and as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China has both the opportunity and the responsibility to contribute to a just peace in Darfur," said the letter.
"Ongoing failure to rise to this responsibility amounts, in our view, to support for a government that continues to carry out atrocities against its own people," said the letter, released on a day of events by the Save Darfur Coalition.
The letter was signed by Nobel Peace laureates Bishop Carlos Belo, Shirin Ebadi, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Rigoberta Menchu, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel, Betty Williams and Jody Williams. Other signatories included Western politicians, former Olympic athletes and entertainers, including actress Mia Farrow.
Farrow has spearheaded the coalition's global campaign to press China to change its policies in Sudan. Beijing sells weapons to the Sudanese government and buys oil from it.
In more than four years of conflict in Sudan's western region of Darfur, 200 000 people have died and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes, according to estimates from international experts. Khartoum says 9 000 people have died.
Lead Medal Award
The letter to Hu acknowledged Chinese support for a UN Security Council resolution calling for the deployment of a UN-African Union peacekeeping force to Darfur and other diplomatic efforts.
"However, we note with dismay that the Chinese government worked to weaken the resolution before it passed," it said. The letter said China doubled its trade with Sudan in 2007 and continued its military relationship with the African country.
Jody Williams, a US citizen who won the prize in 1997 for her campaign against landmines, said she and fellow female laureates had formed the Nobel Women's Initiative in 2006 to focus on conflicts and particularly their impact on women.
Mass rape has been a weapon of warfare in Darfur and in Myanmar, formerly Burma, another Chinese-backed regime.
"In Darfur and in the case of Burma, China is the eight-jillion-ton elephant in the room and needs to use some of its weight in a positive way," Williams said.
The Save Darfur Coalition said it will stage similar events in Senegal, Nigeria, France, Italy, Australia and other countries.