Agence France Presse
Jan 20 2008
US actress barred from Cambodia genocide museum for Darfur protest
12 hours ago
PHNOM PENH (AFP) – American actress Mia Farrow was on Sunday forced
to cancel a ceremony in Phnom Penh highlighting human rights abuses
in Sudan after authorities barred her access to the city’s genocide
museum.
Farrow and her group, Dream for Darfur, planned to hold an Olympic
torch ceremony at Tuol Sleng prison — a brutal interrogation centre
under the Khmer Rouge — as part of a campaign to highlight China’s
links to Sudan.
But the Cambodian government, which has close ties to Beijing, banned
the ceremony, calling it "insulting" to the two million victims of
the Khmer Rouge.
Cambodian police, some armed with truncheons and tear gas, blocked
all road access to the museum, and an AFP reporter saw police push
Farrow’s group when they refused to move from the genocide centre.
The star, joined by seven other activists, instead gave white lotus
flowers to a policeman, and asked him to lay them in front of the
museum.
"This flower honors all those who have perished, and celebrates for
all those who have survived," Farrow said.
She told reporters later that the group was "disappointed" they could
not hold the ceremony, while a Cambodian activist who helped organise
the event accused China of quashing the movement.
"As a Cambodian, I am deeply deeply ashamed by the actions of our
Cambodian authorities," said Theary Seng, head of the Centre for
Social Development. "For me, it’s true that China interfered with our
mission."
Farrow’s campaign aims to push China to pressure Sudan into ending
the violence in Darfur, where the United Nations estimates at least
200,000 people have died in five years of war, famine and disease.
In the run-up to the Olympics, China — which is by far the largest
foreign investor in Sudan and absorbs almost two-thirds of its oil
output — has been under mounting pressure to use its clout on
Khartoum.
China was the closest ally of the communist Khmer Rouge, under whose
brutal rule up to two million Cambodians died of starvation, disease
or execution during the late 1970s.
Farrow’s group has organised an Olympic-style torch relay through
countries that have suffered genocide and Cambodia was the sixth stop
after visits to the Sudanese border in Chad, as well as Rwanda,
Armenia, Germany and Bosnia.