Spielberg quits Beijing Olympics in protest

Under pressure from the actress Mia Farrow and several humanitarian groups, film director Steven Spielberg has finally pulled out of his role as artistic advisor to this summer's Beijing Olympics in protest at China's refusal to use its influence to stop the genocide in Darfur. "I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual," Spielberg said on Tuesday.

"At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies, but on doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur," the film-maker said in a statement.

At least 200,000 people are estimated to have been killed and 2m forced from the homes in the Darfur region of Sudan since 2003 when a civil war erupted pitting government-backed Arab militias against non-Arab ethnic groups. "Sudan's government bears the bulk of the responsibility for these on-going crimes," said Spielberg, "but the international community, and particularly China, should be doing more."

China continues to trade with Sudan - taking two-thirds of Sudan's vast oil output, and selling weapons to the Khartoum government - despite international condemnation.

Spielberg's statement is sweet music to the ears of Mia Farrow, a Unicef Goodwill ambassador, who has been urging him for months to pull out of his commitment to help the Chinese plan the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games. Only last week she said that while Spielberg had raised awareness of the Holocaust - most notably with his 1993 film Schindler's List - he was "complicit" when it came to the Chinese and their funding of the genocide in Darfur.

Farrow was one of the signatories - along with British actress Emma Thompson and nine Nobel Peace Prize laureates, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the anti-landmines campaigner Jody Williams - of a letter sent yesterday to President Hu Jintao, urging China to uphold Olympic ideals by pressing Sudan to stop the atrocities in Darfur.