US Congress weighs possible boycott of Beijing Olympics over Darfur
By Wasil Ali
December 20, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — The US Congress may soon be considering the boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympics according to a leading lawmaker in Washington today.
Congressman Donald Payne, chair of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, told Voice of America (VOA) that China “has to decide whether it is going to be a first class world leader or whether it is going to deal with the thugs of the world like the government of Sudan”.
China buys two-third of Sudan’s oil exports and is supporting numerous infrastructure projects in the country, including a pipeline, a super tanker terminal and a hydropower dam.
Beijing has been accused of protecting the Sudanese government from tougher UN sanctions at the Security Council by using its veto power.
Earlier this month the Chinese government blocked a non-binding UNSC presidential statement calling on Sudan to extradite two war crime suspects wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) pursuant to resolution 1593 which referred the situation in Darfur to the world court.
The UN accused Sudan of dragging its feet on allowing the deployment of the peacekeeping force in Darfur.
UN Security Council resolution 1769 establishing UN-AU hybrid force provided for a transition from the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) to the force known as UNAMID by December 31st.
The Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir said that he would not accept non-African troops, deemed necessary by the UN, apart from Chinese and Pakistani technical units already committed.
Payne said that the boycott of the Beijing 2008 summer Olympics was always an option on the table for the US Congress.
“No question about it. We have been participating in discussions on the boycott” Payne said.
US officials have made contradictory statements on the idea of boycotting the Beijing Olympics. Last June the US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that the boycott “is not something that we have supported”.
However U.S. Ambassador at the UN Zalmay Khalilzad hinted last May that boycott of the Olympics depends on China’s cooperation with regards to the Darfur crisis.
“We will see in terms of Chinese actions in the council with regard to Sudan,” Khalilzad said.
But Sudan experts such as Professor Eric Reeves who also on the advisory committee of the ‘Olympic Dream for Darfur’ campaign opposes any talk of boycott saying that the threat should be that of “shame”.
“The threat of shame grows more powerful every day. The Chinese are now genuinely terrified that their Olympic Games, which is enormously valued, will be defined around the world as the genocide Olympics” Reeves said.
This week the US Congress unanimously endorsed a Sudan divestment bill aimed at providing legal protection to State and local divestment efforts in the African nation. The bill has been sent to US President Bush for signature into a law despite his administration objections to the legislation.
Congressman Payne said he was optimistic that Bush would sign the bill.
“We believe that the president supports the sanctions on Sudan. I am not sure though how he will react to the bill. We’re hoping that since we know his position on Sudan since he’s called what’s happening there genocide as has been declared by both houses of Congress. So we are hoping that he will sign it,” Payne said
The Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act of 2007 specifically targets the main sources of revenue of Khartoum; oil, power production, mining and military equipment.
The Save Darfur Coalition, an alliance of more than 180 faith-based, advocacy and human rights organizations, has asked investors to divest their holdings in companies such as Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas [PETR.UL], India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd , and PetroChina Co Ltd , whose parent company, China National Petroleum Corp, is helping Sudan drill for oil.
Under the proposed bill no government agency shall prohibit granting of federal contracts to companies believed to be conducting business in Sudan unless they certify otherwise.
International experts estimate 200,000 people have died in the conflict, which Washington calls genocide, a term European governments are reluctant to use. The Sudan government says 9,000 people have been killed.
(ST)