Spielberg urges China again to help end Darfur 'genocide'
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Legendary film director Steven Spielberg has appealed to Chinese President Hu Jintao for a second time to use China's influence over Sudan to end the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
In a November 15 letter to Hu released Thursday, Spielberg, who is serving as an artistic advisor for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, said the situation in Darfur had deteriorated since he last wrote him in April.
"So I write to you now with a renewed sense of urgency in the hope that China will redouble its efforts to pressure Sudan to join in a fair peace agreement and, at last, bring an end to the genocide," he wrote.
Spielberg urged China to contribute much needed helicopters and heavy transport vehicles for the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission and to press Sudan to stop delaying the force's deployment.
"China's economic, military and diplomatic ties to the government of Sudan continue to provide you with the influence and the obligation to press for change," he wrote.
"Without China's insistence, I fear Sudan will simply 'wait out the clock,'" Spielberg wrote in the letter released by his office.
Spielberg has been calling for China to press Sudan ever since coming under heavy criticism in March from US actress and UNICEF Goodwill ambassador Mia Farrow for not speaking out about Darfur while helping the Beijing Olympics.
China, which is Sudan's biggest foreign trade partner, has often been accused of failing to exert pressure on Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir to stop the bloodshed in the western region.
"I believe the decisive hour for Darfur is now," Spielberg wrote in last month's letter to Hu.
"The world needs China to lead here," he wrote. "So many lives are at stake."
The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when an ethnic minority rose up against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, which then enlisted the Janjaweed militia group to help crush the rebellion.
According to UN estimates, at least 200,000 people have died from the combined effect of war and famine since the conflict started in February 2003. Khartoum disputes the figures.
