World Tibet Network News Friday, May 15, 1998

NEW DELHI, May 15 (AFP) - Five Tibetans broke an 18-day hunger strike in the Indian capital Friday saying several countries had promised to take up the cause of Tibet's independence. Tibetan youth Congress official Tsetsen Norbu said the protest,part of a 67-day fast, had been shelved as "countries which have supported us have said they need a certain time to carry forward their commitment. "Norbu said US President Bill Clinton had pledged to take up the issue with his Chinese counterpart Jiang Zemin during his June visit to Beijing. He said Poland, Norway, Costa Rica, Hungary and the European Union had also agreed to take up the demand for Tibet's independence from China. "We have broken the fast to give time to the international support to concretise which we hope will logically lead to the United Nations acting on our demand. "Late last month, a Tibetan monk immolated himself in New Delhi in the first suicide protest in India after police broke up a marathon hunger strike by six Tibetans in support of Ti

betan independence. The five others had replaced them.

Norbu warned, however, that the protests would be resumed if there were no "concrete, substantial and tangible results from these commitments" adding that Chinese rule had led to the death of 1.2 million Tibetans. He denied the move was linked to India's shock nuclear tests, conducted this week in the face of global condemnation. Tibetan exiles have welcomed the move. "We are so happy and proud that India has shown the world that it is no less than any other country," Dolma Gyari, a member of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile based in the Indian town of Dharamsala, had said. "The Indian prime minister should ask the Chinese to negotiate with the Dalai Lama for a peaceful solution to the Tibetan issue," Gyari had added. Chinese troops occupied Tibet in 1951. The Dalai Lama and some 100,000 Tibetans fled to India after Beijing crushed ananti-Chinese uprising in Tibet in 1959