SANTA FE, October 23, 1995, (The New Mexican) - Ten days into a hunger strike, Pema Dorje was too weak Monday to walk 40 feet from his spot near the United Nations to a telephone for an interview that would bring his message to his fellow Santa Feans.

Dorje, 42, is one of six Tibetans who have been fasting on Dag Hammarskjold Plaza since Oct. 14 to force the United Nations to declare Tibet an occupied country illegally colonized by China since 1949.

The United Nations is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and the gathering of the world leaders to mark the date provides a forum for the strikers.

The group of five men and one woman say they will fast to the death.

"Their condition is quite serious," protest organizer Namkha Tenzin said from a pay telephone near the strikers. "They haven't eaten for 10 days. Having only water and lemon, they have lost a lot of weight."

In New York City's balmy fall weather, the Tibetan Buddhists spend their days wrapped in sleeping bags and quilts under a blue tent bearing Tibetan and American flags. They are checked by doctors twice daily. And they wait for a response from the United Nations.

"They are praying sometimes, but most of the time - because they are now quite weak - they are lying down and sleeping," organizer Karma Chophel said.

Both Chophel and Santa Fe Tibetans said they believed the United Nations would ignore the strikers' demands and the protesters would fast until death.

"He (Dorje) told me that he doesn't mind sacrificing his life for the sake of other Tibetans," said Lhakpa Dolma, coordinator for the 21 Tibetans who have come to Santa Fe in a resettlement project. "He told us that if he dies, then his roommates can do whatever they want with his stuff. He wants us to pray for everybody."

About 120,000 Tibetans - led by their political and spiritual leader the Dalai Lama - have fled into exile since China's 1949 invasion. Most live in India, but small groups have been resettled in Switzerland, Canada and, since 1992, the United States.

Dorje came to New Mexico in December 1993 from Dharamsala, India, where he was a cook at the Tibetan cultural center. He also performs Tibetan folk music on guitar and flute. Dolma described Dorje as a "shy, nice man. "At Eldorado Hotel, where Dorje has worked as a room attendant since June, General Manager Randy Randall said, "If and when, he comes back, we'll have a job for him, because he's a very good worker."

The protesters, in addition to their ultimatum, of recognition for Tibet, also demand U.N.-led negotiations on Tibet's future and U.N. recognition of the Dalai Lama as the sole representative of the Tibetan people..

"We did not start this by believing the United Nations would do anything" because China is one of five Security Council members with a power to veto any U.N. resolution, Chophel said.

"We are resorting to desperate action," he said. "We want to focus the attention of the world community on the ineffectiveness of the United Nations."

Chophel said he believed the strikers would consider ending their protest with any response from the United Nations, but "if we do not have a response from the secretary-general (Boutros Boutros Ghali)), they are really resolved to pass unto death."

Paljor Thondup, director of Santa Fe's Project Tibet, said he and other members of Tibetan community have been faxing protest letters to Boutros-Ghali in support of the hunger strikers.

"I'm trying to save someone's life," he said.