TORCH RELAY CAMPAIGN AGAINST CURRENT GENOCIDE IN DARFUR REACHED ARMENIA
By Sousana Margarian
AZG Armenian Daily
27/09/2007
The Armenian Assembly of America (AAA) organized a special
commemorative event to take place at the Tsitsernakapert Genocide
Memorial on Tuesday, September 25 at 10.30 AM in Yerevan.
In collaboration with "Olympic Dream for Darfur" the AAA will organize
an Olympic-style torch relay, as Armenia is the third stop on an
international symbolic Olympic Torch Relay campaign that calls for
an end to the genocide currently unfolding in Darfur. Special guests
in attendance will consist of survivors of the Armenian Genocide,
Rwandan Genocide and Darfur Genocide as well as His Holiness Garegin
II, Catholicos of All Armenians, and The Archbishop of Canterbury
Rowan Williams.
The torchlight procession that started in Eastern Chad today marched
through the states which suffered from genocide in different times. In
a couple of months the action participants will cross Rwanda and
Cambodia and reach Armenia. Afterwards they will head for Sarajevo.
The purpose of the procession is to attract attention of the
international community to the problem of genocide, specifically to
the situation in Darfur. The action was initiated by UNICEF goodwill
ambassador, actress Mia Farrow, who is dealing with the Darfur problem.
"We constantly speak of prevention of genocides.
However, they are repeated again and again. The activities of the
Sudanese government in Darfur can be described as the first genocide
of the 21st century.
It should be stopped," Ms. Farrow said.
The procession started August 8. On this very day the Summer Olympic
Games will kick off in Beijing next year. China, as Sudan’s major
economic partner, was chosen as one of the targets of the action. "The
Sudanese government empowered Chinese oil companies to use nature
resources of the country while 80% of the income is spent on military
operations in Darfur.
Cooperating with China, we support the perpetrators of the genocide
in Darfur," Ms. Farrow noted.