World Tibet Network News Monday, April 27, 1998

NEW DELHI, April 27 (Reuters) - Shouting "Long live his holiness, the Dalai Lama! Long live Tibet!," a Tibetan activist set himself on fire on Monday to protest against police moves to halt a hunger strike.

Police threw water on Thupten Ngodup to douse the flames and rushed him to New Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, where one doctor told Reuters his chance of survival was "negligible."

Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) workers said at least 400 Indian police and

paramilitary officers had swooped on a tent in central New Delhi where six

Tibetans began a fast on March 10 to protest against Chinese occupation of their homeland.

They said police on Sunday hauled three of the six to hospital to be put on glucose and multi-vitamin drips and did the same with the other three on Monday after dawn broke on the 48th day of the fast.

As the last three strikers were carried away, Ngodup, 50, shouted his pro-Dalai Lama, pro-Tibet slogans and set himself alight.

Ngodup poured some sort of flammable liquid on himself, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. There were no other immediate details.

"Chances of survival are negligible. He has got almost 100 percent burns. His condition is very critical. It is only a matter of days," said the doctor,

who asked not to be identified.

Ngodup, his face charred and the rest of his body swathed in bandages, whispered to fellow-activists as he was moved to the burns unit in the hospital.

"I did it for my country," they quoted him as saying.

One of the six strikers, Kunsang (eds: ne name), told Reuters from his hospital bed that he would fast again after he was discharged.

"I was arrested this morning. They gave me this drip. A lot of police came," said Kunsang, who was born in Tibet in 1928 and fled to India 30 years later.

"It's not finished," he said, his voice barely audible. "We will start again after getting out of the hospital. I am sad that this has happened."

The protesters want the U.N. General Assembly to resume debate on Tibet and are seeking the appointment of a special rapporteur to investigate human rights in the Himalayan region.

Chinese forces entered Tibet in 1950, ending its centuries of autonomy. The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetans, fled to India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against the region's new rulers.

TYC President Tseten Norbu said he believed the authorities had moved to stop the protest because China's Chief of General Staff, Fu Quanyou, was in New Delhi for the start of what India has described as a "goodwill visit."

He said at least 400 security personnel were involved in the raid and 16 people were detained.

A police officer told Reuters there were about 100 police and 100 paramilitary personnel at the scene and no force was used.

The Dalai Lama, who was due to travel to New Delhi on Tuesday, had previously

admired the determination of the hunger strikers but said their fast to death was itself a kind of violence.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan had urged the Tibetans to end the strike, saying only member states of the United Nations had the power to seek the resumption of debate on Tibet.

The Tibet issue is a touchy one at the United Nations as China is a permanent member of the 15-seat Security Council and would oppose strongly any concrete U.N. action as interference in its internal affairs.