Feminist Peace Network

From AFP:

“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.”

“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.”"

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