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LONDON: Jacques Rogge, head of the International Olympic Committee
(IOC), has signed an appeal to China to do more to end the conflict
in Sudan’s Darfur region, according to a copy of the letter
published in The Independent on Thursday.
The letter was originally released to
international media on February 12 by the campaigning group Crisis
Action, calling on China to pressure Khartoum on atrocities
committed in Darfur, as attention turns to the Olympic Games this
summer in Beijing.
At the time, the letter’s signatories included
eight Nobel peace prize winners, several Olympians, politicians and
celebrities, but not Rogge.
In a copy of the letter published in The
Independent newspaper on Thursday, however, Rogge’s name appeared
at the end of the list of signatories as: “Jacques Rogge,
International Olympic Committee.”
Neither the IOC nor The Independent could not be
immediately contacted by AFP to confirm that Rogge had, in fact,
signed the controversial letter.
China’s relationship with Sudan has come under
the spotlight in recent days after Hollywood filmmaker Steven
Spielberg said Wednesday that he was abandoning his role in the
August 8 to 24 Games over China’s stance toward Sudan.
The United Nations estimates some 200,000 people
have died in the western Sudanese region from the combined effects
of war, famine and disease since 2003, when a civil conflict erupted
pitting government-backed Arab militias against non-Arab ethnic
groups.
China is a major economic partner of Sudan, and
its ties with Khartoum have been regarded as a sticking point in
international efforts to pressure the Sudanese government to ease
the crisis.
-- AFP
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