By Andrew Heavens
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Darfur's splintered rebel groups onWednesday united in praising U.S. film director StevenSpielberg for quitting as artistic adviser to the BeijingOlympics, with one calling for athletes to follow his lead.
Spielberg withdrew on Tuesday, saying the competition'shosts China should do more to persuade Sudan to end attacks andother humanitarian atrocities in Darfur.
Activists accuse Beijing of arming the Khartoum regime andfunding it through oil revenues.
Lobby groups and celebrities led by Hollywood's Mia Farrowhave used this summer's Olympics as a platform for theircampaign to persuade Beijing to step up political pressure onSudan.
No one was immediately available for comment from theSudanese government.
But rebel groups welcomed Spielberg's decision, saying itcould shame Beijing into changing its stance on Darfur.
"It means a lot for someone like him to be doing this,"said spokesman for the insurgent Justice and Equality Movement(JEM) Ahmed Hussein Adam.
"This will send a message to other countries, otherindividuals and athletes, who haven't taken a strong stance onDarfur up to now. We are calling on all countries to boycottthe Olympics, athletes as well."
Ahmed Abdel Shafie, leader of a faction of the rebel SudanLiberation Army (SLA), said Spielberg's decision was "a wake-upcall for the rest of the world".
"This is a lesson that people should distance themselvesfrom China. I hope that China will wake up and change itspolicy to Darfur," he said.
"I send him my congratulations and the appreciation of themovement," said Suleiman Jamous, a leading member of theSLA-Unity group. "We appreciate that he has joined the rightside of the conflict."
Abdel Wahed Mohamed Ahmed al-Nur, one of the SLA'sfounders, told the Paris-based Sudan Tribune that Spielberg hadmade a "noble move". "He will certainly go down in history assomeone who gave human lives precedence over fame and money,"Nur told the news website.
International experts say almost five years of fighting,rape and looting in Sudan's remote western Darfur region havekilled 200,000 people and driven 2.5 million from their homes.
Government-backed militias have been blamed for much of theearly humanitarian outrages. But rebel groups, who took up armsin 2003, have not escaped international criticism.
The U.N. imposed travel bans and asset freezes on two rebelleaders in 2006. The US has also sanctioned JEM leader KhalilIbrahim, saying his rebel group had been "responsible for anumber of violent incidents".
Darfur's rebel groups splintered into factions after afailed Darfur peace deal in 2006. Many of the larger groupshave so far refused to take part in a fresh push for peacetalks brokered by the U.N. and the African Union.
(Editing by Giles Elgood)
