Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
Voice of America is funded by the US Federal Government and content it
exclusively produces is in the public domain.
August 11, 2008

Bush Urges China to Use Clout With Sudan on Darfur 
---------------------------------------------------

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1DA4374:A6F02AD83191E16004A6A4FB12782BF021A4E82C900CD027&
 
US president says he told Chinese counterpart to take advantage of his
relationship with Sudanese president to help solve humanitarian crisis 
President George W. Bush U.S. President George Bush says he has
discussed the situation in Sudan's troubled Darfur region with Chinese
President Hu Jintao. Mr. Bush said in a television interview Monday,
with NBC at the Olympics in Beijing that he urged the Chinese president
to take advantage of his relationship with the Sudanese president to
help solve the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.The U.S. president also
said he delivered activist Joey Cheek's "Sudanese message" to Chinese
officials. Last week, China revoked the visa of U.S. Olympic
speed-skating gold medalist Cheek. He is a co-founder of the activist
group Team Darfur, which seeks to raise awareness of the violence in
Darfur. China's support for Sudan has been the source of worldwide
criticism ahead of the Olympics. China is a major investor in Sudan's
oil industry and one of its biggest arms suppliers. Chinese officials
say weapons sold to Sudan are not to be used in the Darfur conflict.
International experts say m!
 ore than 200,000 people in Darfur have died and some 2.5 million have
been displaced from their homes since local rebel groups rose up against
the Sudanese government in 2003. Sudan says Western governments and the
media have exaggerated the scale of the conflict.

Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.


.