Tibetan sports authorities have pledged to take security measures to protect the Beijing Olympic Games torch relay against sabotage by supporters of the Dalai clique.

The leading team of the relay will closely work with relevant departments to ensure security and prevent disturbances and sabotage, according to a report published in the Tibet Daily on Monday.

Under the guidance of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), the leading team, comprised of seven working departments, worked out the route and agenda for the relay, selected torchbearers and improved working procedures, an unidentified sports official of the Tibet Autonomous Region in China's remote southwest told the newspaper.

Preparation for the relay in Tibet and taking the Olympic flame to the summit of Mount Qomolangma (Everest) is proceeding in an orderly way, the report said.

After the Olympic flame-lighting ceremony, which is scheduled to be held later on Monday in Greece, the flame will traverse Greece for six days before it is handed over to BOCOG on March 30 in Athens.

The global tour of the Olympic flame will begin on April 1, covering 137,000 kilometers across 135 cities in 130 days before the torch arrives at the National Stadium in Beijing on Aug. 8 for the opening ceremony.

The highlight of the relay, which involves 21,780 torchbearers, will be an attempt to take the flame to the summit of Mount Qomolangma in May.

However, the unrest in Lhasa, believed to have been organized and masterminded by the Dalai Lama clique, has raised concern over the security of the torch relay.

(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2008)