(dpa) -
Actress and human rights activist Mia Farrow is to speak in Hong Kong on the
day the Olympic torch is carried through the former British colony, a news
report said Saturday.
The outspoken 63-year-old star will speak at a Foreign Correspondents' Club
lunch on May 2 and will urge China to act on the crisis in Darfur, Sudan, the South China Morning Post reported.
Hong Kong will host the first torch relay on Chinese soil after its worldwide
tour which has been marred by protests over Tibet.
Foreign Correspondents' Club president Christopher Slaughter told the newspaper
the date for Farrow's speech was selected by the activist group Dream for Darfur, which she chairs.
It was "understandable" for the group to pick the date of the torch
relay, Slaughter said, but he added: "I can't see how a luncheon speech
can affect the (torch relay)."
A number of protest groups plan to highlight the unrest in Tibet during the Hong Kong torch relay, but a survey Friday suggested more than 93 per cent of Hong
Kongers oppose anti-China protests.
Beijing has also drawn criticism for its continued investments in Sudan, despite the atrocities being committed in Darfur.
The city's Beijing-appointed Chief Executive Donald Tsang is expected to be the
first of 120 torch-bearers to run in the 33- kilometre relay, which will be
marshalled by 3,000 police.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1997
under a "one country, two systems" arrangement guaranteeing political
freedoms and the right to protest.