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NGO STAGES OLYMPICS CAMPAIGN TO HELP END DARFUR GENOCIDE
By Howard Lesser
Washington, DC
12 September 2007
With China in an unrivaled position to influence Sudan to facilitate
an end to the genocide campaign in Darfur, various groups are posing
challenges for Beijing to boost its prestige as the host of next
summer's Olympic games. The newly formed Olympic Dream for Darfur
campaign questions how China can uphold its international image as
Olympics host, while extending political cover and economic support
to help Sudan finance militia attacks against thousands of its own
citizens. To get China to sway Khartoum to end the violence, the
group's director Jill Savitt says that engagement - not an Olympics
boycott - is the right approach.
"We're saying to China, 'You have this unique relationship. You have
protected Khartoum up until now, watering down, blocking, vetoing
every resolution. You can't keep doing that and host the Olympics',"
she said.
Allied since the 1990's, Sudan and China trade heavily, with Khartoum
selling two-thirds of its petroleum exports to Beijing.
Their commercial ties are a prime example of China's bid to increase
investments and gain political influence in African countries. China
also sells arms to Sudan and as such is seen as having an ability
to influence the Bashir government's conduct of the Darfur conflict,
in which more than 200-thousand civilians have been killed and more
than two million villagers have been uprooted from their homes since
2003. With next year's Beijing games focusing world attention on the
host country's prestige, Jill Savitt says she hopes China will work
to change Sudan's behavior to avert challenges from foreign visitors
and critics of the Darfur genocide.
"We would hope that there is not a genocide going on a year from now
still. If there is still violence and people are unable to leave the
camps where the refugees are, and the camps are not improved, China
is going to be concerned about what all of the reporters covering
the Olympics are saying. There are athletes, former Olympians,
current professional athletes, current Olympians, who care about
Darfur and who will very respectfully raise the issue when they're
in Beijing. There are people buying tickets as spectators who care
about Darfur. We are considering pairing up people from the Darfur
region of Sudan who live in exile and buying tickets for them to go
to the Olympics to raise these issues," Savitt points out.
Although several activist groups have credited a so-called "Genocide
Olympics" campaign with influencing China's recent UN Security
Council vote to approve forming a hybrid UN - African Union (AU)
peacekeeping force of 26-thousand troops for Darfur, Savitt argues
that the Olympic Dream for Darfur campaign does not believe that a
2008 Olympics boycott would be effective.
"I have not heard of any non-profit organizations calling for a boycott
of the Olympics about the Darfur issue. There were some presidential
candidates in France. There are some people in the US Congress who have
talked about the issue. But there's no movement of anyone calling for a
boycott. And that's for a very specific reason. As the Olympics near,
the world's attention is going to be on Beijing about the ideals of
the Olympics, and we want to tap into that attention and throw it
over to the forgotten people of Darfur," she said.
Since the group's formation four months ago, Olympic Dream for
Darfur backers have organized their own torch lighting relay events
to carry the Olympic spirit and a message of ending the violence in
Darfur all the way to China. Actress and UN Goodwill Ambassador Mia
Farrow launched the torch relay last month from western Sudan at the
Darfur-Chad border. Jill Savitt says torch has passed through Rwanda,
which experienced its own genocide thirteen years ago. It will also
travel to Armenia, Bosnia, Berlin, Auschwitz, and Cambodia before
arriving in Hong Kong in December.
"There are miles to go before there is security in Darfur," says
Savitt. "One of the good points now is that leaders are paying
attention to the issue. On the down side, there is this notion that
talking about the problem somehow addresses it - that trying is good
enough. Well, trying is not good enough. We have one thing that
must happen for us to stop our campaign, and that is adequate and
verifiable security on the ground in Darfur. It should happen. If the
United Nations, including China, want to see that happen, we should
be able to, as an international community, intervene in the fifth
year of a genocide."
By Howard Lesser
Washington, DC
12 September 2007
With China in an unrivaled position to influence Sudan to facilitate
an end to the genocide campaign in Darfur, various groups are posing
challenges for Beijing to boost its prestige as the host of next
summer's Olympic games. The newly formed Olympic Dream for Darfur
campaign questions how China can uphold its international image as
Olympics host, while extending political cover and economic support
to help Sudan finance militia attacks against thousands of its own
citizens. To get China to sway Khartoum to end the violence, the
group's director Jill Savitt says that engagement - not an Olympics
boycott - is the right approach.
"We're saying to China, 'You have this unique relationship. You have
protected Khartoum up until now, watering down, blocking, vetoing
every resolution. You can't keep doing that and host the Olympics',"
she said.
Allied since the 1990's, Sudan and China trade heavily, with Khartoum
selling two-thirds of its petroleum exports to Beijing.
Their commercial ties are a prime example of China's bid to increase
investments and gain political influence in African countries. China
also sells arms to Sudan and as such is seen as having an ability
to influence the Bashir government's conduct of the Darfur conflict,
in which more than 200-thousand civilians have been killed and more
than two million villagers have been uprooted from their homes since
2003. With next year's Beijing games focusing world attention on the
host country's prestige, Jill Savitt says she hopes China will work
to change Sudan's behavior to avert challenges from foreign visitors
and critics of the Darfur genocide.
"We would hope that there is not a genocide going on a year from now
still. If there is still violence and people are unable to leave the
camps where the refugees are, and the camps are not improved, China
is going to be concerned about what all of the reporters covering
the Olympics are saying. There are athletes, former Olympians,
current professional athletes, current Olympians, who care about
Darfur and who will very respectfully raise the issue when they're
in Beijing. There are people buying tickets as spectators who care
about Darfur. We are considering pairing up people from the Darfur
region of Sudan who live in exile and buying tickets for them to go
to the Olympics to raise these issues," Savitt points out.
Although several activist groups have credited a so-called "Genocide
Olympics" campaign with influencing China's recent UN Security
Council vote to approve forming a hybrid UN - African Union (AU)
peacekeeping force of 26-thousand troops for Darfur, Savitt argues
that the Olympic Dream for Darfur campaign does not believe that a
2008 Olympics boycott would be effective.
"I have not heard of any non-profit organizations calling for a boycott
of the Olympics about the Darfur issue. There were some presidential
candidates in France. There are some people in the US Congress who have
talked about the issue. But there's no movement of anyone calling for a
boycott. And that's for a very specific reason. As the Olympics near,
the world's attention is going to be on Beijing about the ideals of
the Olympics, and we want to tap into that attention and throw it
over to the forgotten people of Darfur," she said.
Since the group's formation four months ago, Olympic Dream for
Darfur backers have organized their own torch lighting relay events
to carry the Olympic spirit and a message of ending the violence in
Darfur all the way to China. Actress and UN Goodwill Ambassador Mia
Farrow launched the torch relay last month from western Sudan at the
Darfur-Chad border. Jill Savitt says torch has passed through Rwanda,
which experienced its own genocide thirteen years ago. It will also
travel to Armenia, Bosnia, Berlin, Auschwitz, and Cambodia before
arriving in Hong Kong in December.
"There are miles to go before there is security in Darfur," says
Savitt. "One of the good points now is that leaders are paying
attention to the issue. On the down side, there is this notion that
talking about the problem somehow addresses it - that trying is good
enough. Well, trying is not good enough. We have one thing that
must happen for us to stop our campaign, and that is adequate and
verifiable security on the ground in Darfur. It should happen. If the
United Nations, including China, want to see that happen, we should
be able to, as an international community, intervene in the fifth
year of a genocide."