World Tibet Network News Friday, April 24, 1998

LONDON, April 24 (AFP) - The European Union on Friday appealed to six Tibetan activisits on a hunger strike in India to protest human rights conditions in their homeland to end their fast.

In a statement issued through Britain, the current EU president, the EU said it was "deeply concerned" over their well being.

It said the six had succeeded in drawing attention to their serious concerns about the situation in Tibet and their demands for United Nations action, and urged them to end the fast they began on March 10.

The hunger strike, being held on a pavement in New Delhi, is being organised by the Tibetan Youth Congress, the largest Tibetan non-governmental organisation outside Tibet.

The activisits, one woman and five men, are aged between 25 and 70.

The EU statement said the human rights situation in Tibet was an issue of serious concern to the European Union which took every opportunity to raise the issue with the Chinese authorities.

It said this was done on April 2 with Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji during the EU-China summit in London.

The European Union has agreed with the Chinese authorities that a delegation of EU Ambassadors in Beijing will visit Tibet May 1-10 to assess the situation there.

The hunger strikers have been visited by the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India, but they have asked him not to intervene.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson have appealed to them to give up their fast in order to save lives.