World Tibet Network News Thursday, April 23, 1998

"The Australian" Thursday, April 23 picture cap: To the death ... Tibetan nuns hold a candlelight vigil for the six Tibetans on hunger strike in New Delhi. Tibetan hunger strikers in the Indian capital, New Delhi, have entered the sixth week of their "fast-unto-death", with a vow to continue their action despite appeals by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Dalai Lama to end their protest. The hunger strike, organised by the Tibetan Youth Congress, is the longestand most defiant protest ever undertaken by the 100,000 strong Tibetan exile community in India. Dozens of foreign dignitaries and local political leaders have visited the five men and one woman sheltering in a tent outside the Jantar Mantar, an 18th-century observatory which has become a traditional venue for protestgroups in the Indian capital. The six hunger strikers said they would end their fast only if the UN General Assembly resumed discussions on Tibet and Mr. Annan appointed a special envoy to investigate human rights abuses there. "The

UN is afraid of China. It is acting as if it was an office of the Chinese," a spokesman for the hunger strikers, Dawa Gyalpo, said. Last week, Mr Annan issued a plea to the hunger strikers to call off their fast "so as not to jeopardise their health".

The plea came after Hollywood actor and Tibet independence campaigner Richard Gere had urged Annan to send a message of support to the hunger strikers."Our demands are reasonable. But we are being seen as worse than animals bythe UN," said Mr Gyalpo, 50, who has taken nothing but water and lime juice since the strike began on March 10. The Tibet issue is a thorny one at the UN, as China is a permanent member of the Security Council and would oppose any action on the grounds that it would constitute interference in its internal affairs. Messages of support from abroad are arriving daily at the venue of the hungerstrike, which is festooned with protest banners and the red, blue and yellowflag of free Tibet. Although physically weak, the hunger strikers, aged between 25 and 70, saidthey would continue their fast until their demands were met. The Dalai Lama and other Tibetan activists have accused China of resorting to human rights abuses to control the region and of trying to stamp out Tibetan culture. But the

Dalai Lama has criticised the action of the hungerstrikers, saying their action constituted violence against oneself and, therefore, violated his commitment to peaceful protest. The Chinese Embassy in New Delhi has sent a protest note to the Indian Government for allowing the hunger strike to take place, saying it would jeopardise progress in improving relations between the two countries.

Alex Butler President, Australia Tibet Council