Aug 24, 2007 4:00 pm US/Eastern
Actress Farrow Speaks Of Atrocities In Darfur
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Actress Mia Farrow heads a group that is trying to put pressure on China to help stop the genocide in Darfur before the Olmpics begin in Beijing next August.
AP
Actress Mia Farrow is speaking out about the Darfur refugees after a four-day trip to visit refugee camps.
The star is a part of a group turning up the heat on China to stop the genocide, before the Olympic Games begin next year.
Hollywood may be the last thing on Farrow's mind these days, after the actress and United Nations goodwill ambassador's latest trip to the Chad/Sudan border to visit Darfur refugees where more than 2.5 million have been chased from their burning villages.
"The infliction of the crime of genocide is daily, hourly and lifelong," Farrow said. "In the time they needed it most, (the world) utterly abandoned the Rwandan people."
Farrow spoke of the women repeatedly abused by the militia and the refugees who have no where to go.
"We spoke to university students who said one day we were taking exams, the next day bombs fell and we were refugees," Farrow said.
"We became part of the picture when our vehicle was hijacked by armed men who entered the camp. When we left at curfew, when the aid workers ... what happens to the women and children?"
During the trip, the American Jewish World Service and Dream for Darfur delegation launched a symbolic torch relay to demand that Olympic host China end its support of the government there before the games begin in August 2008.
"The importance of spotlighting China and seeing if we can get her to be a country that stops the genocide and allows the peace keeping forces in," said Ruth Messinger, president of American Jewish World Service.
The relay to stop the Chinese-backed government of Sudan will pass through other countries associated with genocide, including Armenia, Bosnia, Germany and Cambodia.
Farrow is also asking for help from other Hollywood stars. She hopes director Steven Spielberg, who is the artistic adviser to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, will help put the pressure on China.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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