World Tibet Network News Tuesday, April 28, 1998 (II)

NEW DELHI, April 28 (AFP) - The Dalai Lama called Tuesday for increased global support for Tibet as Tibetan exiles defiantly renewed a hunger strike broken up by Indian police and another protester hovered near death after setting himself ablaze.

The spiritual leader of six million Tibetans pressed the world to help resolve the issue after visiting the 50-year-old Tibetan who set fire to himself during the protest against Chinese rule over their Himalayan homeland.

"I request the international community to enhance its support to the cause of Tibet in a more substantial way," he said in a statement after visiting Thupten Ngodub.

"I request the governments and international fora to make earnest efforts to resolve the problem of Tibet peacefully."

The Dalai Lama, who lives in self-exile in India, spent some 30 minutes at a state-run hospital. Doctors said Ngodub, with 100 percent burns, had almost no chance of surviving.

The Dalai Lama also met six other Tibetans admitted after the hunger strike they launched on March 10 was broken up by police on Monday and Tuesday.

Six other Tibetan exiles renewed the hunger strike and warned more would take their place if the latest protest was also broken up.

The new fast by the six, each representing one million of Tibet's six million people, started at one minute past midnight Tuesday (1831 GMT Monday), said a spokesman for the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC).

The TYC said hundreds of Tibetans were ready to join the fast.

"If they are taken away, then another six will replace them," said TYC spokesman Choekyong Wangchuk. "The New Delhi police should know that it is a futile exercise (trying to stop them)."

"We will not give up until our demands are met," he said of the campaign to end Chinese rule over Tibet.

The TYC boasts some 10,000 members. A militant section of the congress, saying it does not believe in absolute non-violence, has often differed with the Dalai Lama over anti-Chinese strategy.

India has described Ngodub's self-immolation as "unfortunate and regrettable" but did not say why the protest was broken up during the visit of the Chinese army chief, General Fu Quanyou.

The protesters claimed the authorities forced them to abandon the strike to appease Beijing during Fu's visit, the first to India by any Chinese army chief.

Chinese troops marched into Tibet in 1951. Apart from the Dalai Lama, who fled his homeland following a failed anti-Chinese uprising in 1959, India is also home to more than 100,000 Tibetan refugees.

The Dalai Lama, whose government-in-exile is located in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala, said he was pained by Ngodub's bid to commit suicide. He said he had tried his best to persuade Tibetans to eschew violence.

"Today, it is clear that a sense of frustration and urgency is building up among many Tibetans, as evidenced by the unto-death hunger strike and the tragic incident of (self-immolation).

"This frustration stems from the fact that the Tibetans people ... are being gradually wiped out from the face of the earth.

"Although I disagree with their method, I do admire the motivation and determination of these Tibetans," the Nobel laureate said of the protesters.

"They are prepared to die not for their selfish ends but for the rights of six million Tibetans."