Reuters, UK
Dec 7 2007
Bosnia genocide survivors join relay for Darfur
Fri 7 Dec 2007, 17:30 GMT
By Daria Sito-Sucic
SARAJEVO, Dec 7 (Reuters) – Hollywood actress Mia Farrow joined
families of Bosnian Muslim victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre
and activists at a torch-lighting ceremony on Friday calling on
Olympic host China to help stop genocide in Darfur.
Farrow and Hatidza Mehmedovic, who lost her husband and two young
sons in Srebrenica, lit a torch as a symbol of peace and solidarity
with the victims of genocide in the African nation.
"We are passing this torch to call for an end to the ongoing crime of
genocide in Darfur," Farrow told the crowd in Sarajevo. "We are
calling upon China to end the suffering in Darfur by forcing Khartoum
to allow a protection force in Sudan."
Critics say China’s military aid to and oil purchases from Sudan give
it influence it could use to push Khartoum to halt the violence in
Darfur, where some 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million
driven from their homes in fighting since rebellion broke out in
2003.
The Sarajevo event was part of an Olympic-style torch relay, the
"Olympic Dream for Darfur" campaign, led by Farrow and launched last
August at the Chad-Darfur border to press for action by China, which
hosts the Olympic Games next year.
The relay has already passed through genocide sites in Darfur,
Rwanda, Armenia, Bosnia and Germany. Next month the torch will be lit
in Cambodia and the last destination will be Hong Kong.
"China is the host of the 2008 Olympic ggames and China is also an
accomplice in Darfur genocide," Farrow said. "It cannot sponsor the
Olympic Games at home and underwrite genocide in Darfur."
People in Sarajevo cried while watching pictures taken by Farrow in
her seven visits to Darfur, in remote western Sudan.
Bosnian Serb forces besieged Sarajevo for 43 months during the
1992-95 Bosnia war.
The United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague considers the
death of some 11,000 people during the siege as genocide, along with
the slaughter of 8,000 Bosnian Muslim males by Bosnian Serb forces
near Srebrenica.
Bosnian Serb wartime commander Ratko Mladic and his political boss
Radovan Karadzic, indicted by the court for their role in the
atrocities, are still on the run.
Other activists, survivors of genocide in Rwanda and Darfur, said
they felt they had to react to genocide anywhere in the world. "We
are trying to link genocide survivors so that they call in one voice
‘Never Again’," said Omer Ismail from Darfur.
The delegation also visited the cemetery and memorial for the
Srebrenica victims on Thursday.
"Instead of waiting for wedding bells and grandchildren, instead of
building factories for them, we are building the cemetery," said
Mehmedovic, who found the remains of her husband and one son after 12
years. "I don’t wish it on anyone." (Editing by Ellie Tzortzi and Tim
Pearce)