NAIROBI: Kenya’s Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai has pulled out of the Olympic torch relay in which she was due to take part over the weekend in Tanzania, citing concerns for worldwide human rights.
Maathai said she withdrew to show solidarity with activists over rights issues, including in Tibet where China’s crackdown on recent protests have sparked international anger.
“Yes, I have pulled out,” Maathai told AFP by telephone Thursday from the Tanzanian commercial capital Dar es Salaam.
“I have decided to show solidarity with other people on the issues of human rights in Sudan’s Darfur region, Tibet and Burma.”
“I have listened very closely to the message from the Dalai Lama about Tibet … and his desire to see the Olympics (go ahead) and the games not be disrupted. All of us who care about human rights issues are of course very sympathetic about the events that have been unfolding there for a very long time.”
Maathai also said she hoped China was taking notice of the protesters who have shadowed the torch relay so far around the world.
“They are having an impact. That is why we are hearing about them. I hope the world and China will hear their voice. They are not doing it for fun, they are doing it because they are concerned with the human rights in Tibet.”
The torch is scheduled to arrive in Tanzania — its only stop in Africa — on Sunday ahead of the August 8-24 Olympic Games in China, which Beijing hopes will be a showpiece for the Asian nation.
The relay has been dogged by protests in London and Paris, and in San Francisco where on Wednesday a massive police presence and sudden route change made the torch all but invisible to the public.
The torch on Thursday headed to Buenos Aires where pro-Tibet supporters have vowed “surprise actions” but no major disruption.
Maathai, who won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her tree-planting and pro-democracy campaigns, said China was well placed to press for the respect of human rights in Darfur, Tibet and Myanmar, a China ally.
“China has tried to address these issues of human rights. But these issues, especially the situation in Tibet, seem to be escalating even though the Dalai Lama has offered to talk,” she said.
China has refused to dialogue with Tibet’s spiritual leader.
Tibetan leaders in exile say the recent crackdown in the Himalayan region has left more than 150 people dead but China has denied those claims.
Beijing has blamed Tibetan “rioters”, saying they have killed 20 people.
Maathai said China has been buying oil from Sudan yet it has refused to let the United Nations mount pressure on Khartoum to end the five-year conflict in its western region of Darfur.
“We know that China has a relationship with Sudan because it buys much of its oil. If China wanted, it could help improve the human rights and humanitarian situation in Darfur,” she added.
She said China had failed to exert pressure on the military junta in Myanmar — formerly known as Burma — to respect human rights, including freeing democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.
“The issue of Burma and the fact that China can help resolve the human rights problem in that country is also of concern to me,” Maathai told AFP.
“One of the other Nobel winners, Aung San Suu Kyi, won the prize but has not been able to collect it because she is under house arrest. China can help secure her freedom.”
