May 24th, 2007 - Nikki Serapio  Permalink  View & Add Comments

Rep. Tom Lantos: A Champion for the People of Darfur

Much gratitude to Congressman Tom Lantos (my representative!) for sending a forthright letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao about Darfur, and for getting 107 of his House colleagues to sign on. The letter urges China to use its political and economic leverage to secure Khartoum’s agreement to a UN protection force for Western Sudan.

The letter is a request but also a serious warning. Lantos writes: “It would be a disaster for China if the games were to be marred by protests, from concerned individuals and groups, whom will undoubtedly link your government to the continued atrocities in Darfur, if there is no significant improvement in the conditions. Already there are calls to boycott what is increasingly being described as the 2008 ‘Genocide Olympics.’”

Congressman Lantos is the only Holocaust survivor ever to serve in the U.S. Congress. Last year, he introduced House Resolution 723, which urged NATO protection of the Darfur region. On September 25, 2006, he reiterated his stand in an Op-Ed in The Financial Times: “I will continue to push for the immediate deployment of NATO assets [to Darfur]–>

Congressman Lantos continues to be a voice of conscience for Darfur.