HONG KONG (AFP) - US actress and activist Mia Farrow accused China on Friday of "underwriting the atrocities in Darfur" as she tried to put pressure on Beijing to end years of bloodshed in the Sudanese region.

Farrow, speaking in Hong Kong as the Olympic torch relay was borne through the southern Chinese city, is using the high profile of this summer's Beijing Games to highlight China's support of the Sudanese government.

"It isn't a pretty way to say this, but China is underwriting the atrocities in Darfur through the oil revenues which now top 4 billion US dollars a year," she told AFP in an interview.

"Some 70 percent of that money has been used to attack the population of Darfur."

She appealed for Chinese leaders to help stop the unrest, which has led to more than two million people fleeing their homes since the Sudanese government enlisted militia allies to put down a revolt in the region in 2003.

"Please China, you have it within your considerable power to alter the course of history to bring about an end to the suffering in Darfur," she said.

"I don't believe for a second that Sudan could have continued this level of destruction against its own people for more than five years without the backing of a giant, and that giant is China."

Farrow said Beijing should press leaders in Khartoum to "cease the aerial bombardment and ground attacks" and let in a full complement of international peacekeepers.

The United Nations said last month that the death toll in Darfur from five years of war, famine and disease had reached 300,000.

Source: AFP