Rogge to make general call for world peace

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge will not call for a cease-fire in world hostilities when the Winter Olympics open on U.S. soil in Salt Lake City on Friday.

"I will make a call for world peace. I am not going to go into more detailed calls or appeals," Rogge said on the eve of an opening ceremony which will include a tribute to the victims of the September 11 attacks on the United States.

The host country has refused to go along with pleas for a cease-fire as part of an Olympic Truce on the grounds it would interrupt its pursuit of the al Qaeda network, blamed by the U.S. for the attacks on New York and Washington.

With U.S. president George W. Bush expected at the ceremony, Rogge will not emulate his predecessor Juan Antonio Samaranch, who began the 1994 Lillehammer Games with a powerful call for peace in the Balkans conflict, saying "Drop your guns".

The IOC has traditionally asked all countries involved in wars to stop fighting during the Games.

But the United Nations, which traditionally appeals for an Olympic Truce, has stopped short of calling for all hostilities to stop during the February 8-24 event. The U.S. opposed such a call because of its ongoing campaign in Afghanistan.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged that "all engaged in hostilities respect the truce...the call for warring parties to lay down their arms". Rogge, however, is not set to repeat the call on U.S. soil.

"Kofi Annan is a political leader. I am a sports leader. I am staying within the boundaries of the sports movement," the former surgeon said.

Rogge could have faced an embarrassing situation if he called for a cease-fire on the soil of a nation involved in a conflict provoked by the events of September 11.

A tattered U.S. flag rescued from the rubble of the World Trade Center, destroyed on September 11, will play a key role at the opening ceremony, broadcast live across the planet.

The flag will be carried into the Rice-Eccles stadium in the first six minutes of the ceremony.

"We think that is the maximum and best we can have for something that is solemn and dignified," Rogge said.

The former Olympic yachtsman added: "We believe the Games will have a special significance after September 11, a strong signal of people coming together peacefully from different nations and cultures.

"It is a signal that the world has been waiting for."