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China urged to help stop Darfur genocide

Daniel J. Chacon, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 29, 2007 at midnight

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A wave of demonstrations calling on China to help end the genocide in Darfur as it prepares to host the 2008 Olympic Games landed in Denver on Sunday.

Dozens of peaceful protesters took part in a symbolic torch relay and rally at Cheesman Park, one of 60 stops in the country, to bring attention to China's business and oil ties to Sudan.

"The government of China is the chief arms supplier, trade partner and diplomatic defender of the government of Sudan, which is responsible for the genocide in Darfur," said Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver.

"It would be wonderful to celebrate the Olympic Games as a symbol of international peace, but it's difficult to do that if China is still dragging its feet on Sudan," he said.

According to event organizers, China is a key player in Sudan's economy, accounting for 71 percent of its exports and providing 21 percent of its worldwide imports.

Ahmed Ali, a Darfuri refugee who said his brother and cousins were killed by government- backed militias in Sudan, said China is responsible for the genocide, too.

"All those weapons that are coming into Darfur and killing my people, they are coming from China," he said.

Protesters also said China has given Sudan political and diplomatic cover through the United Nations.

China, as head of the U.N. Security Council, helped get approval of a resolution authorizing the deployment of peacekeepers in Darfur but only after it had been watered down, Romanoff said.

"Some folks have contemplated a boycott of the Olympics," he said. "I think it would be a shame if the situation in Darfur has not improved in a year's time. It would be more than a shame. It would be tragic. There would be nobody left to kill."

Ali said the 100 or so people who showed up at the rally and relay gave him hope that there was light at the end of the tunnel.

"My people in Darfur region, they are still in that tunnel," he said. "But I'm seeing here, what the people are doing, is giving me . . . light in that dark tunnel."

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