Nigerian Times

I have already sent a formal letter of protest to the Government of the People's Republic of China and signed the petition of the Human Rights First on the complicity of China in the genocide in Darfur , Sudan. China sold over $55 million worth of arms to Sudan from 2003-2006. China supplied the assault rifles, heavy machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, anti-tank weapons, and mortars used by the ruthless Sudanese military and the Janjaweed in Darfur. For decades, hundreds of Tibetans have been arrested and incarcerated for their dissenting opinions and religious beliefs. Tibetan nuns have been raped in detention and in 1994, a Tibetan nun was tortured to death. The recent attacks on Tibet have only made things worse and I am now calling for the boycott of the Beijing Olympics by all people of conscience. We must petition the International Association of Athletics Federations , IAAF, to support the boycott of the Beijing Olympics. There is no guarantee of the safety and security o...

More than five years of conflict in Darfur has left at least 200,000 people dead and more than 2.5 million people homeless, with new attacks on villages in West Darfur recently. Human Rights First has launched a new campaign to get China, by far the largest known provider of small arms to Sudan, to stop selling these weapons to Sudan. I just joined their efforts and I hope you will do the same by visiting their new campaign website, Made in China: Stop Arms Sales to Sudan: The continuing violence in Darfur, combined with China's latest "charm offensive," gives us a unique moment to get China to take a fundamental step toward promoting peace by halting its arm sales to Sudan. China claims that its arms sales to Sudan are insignificant, but a report being released by Human Rights First argues that China has supplied Sudan with some 90% of its small arms and munitions since 2004-the types of weapons and bullets that are used to kill, maim, and leave people homeless in Darf...