INQUIRER Sports

BEIJING -- The Olympic torch will go through Tibet as planned despite the unrest in the remote Himalayan region, a senior official with the Beijing Games organizing committee told reporters on Wednesday.

"The relay will proceed as scheduled," said Jiang Xiaoyu, the vice president of the organizing committee.

"We firmly believe that the Tibetan Autonomous Region is able to ensure the stability of Lhasa," the official said.

Lhasa, Tibet's capital, was the scene of deadly protests on Friday against China's rule of the region.

The flame will be lit in Greece on Monday and will land in China on March 31 when the 2008 Games torch relay begins on Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

The 137,000-kilometer (85,000-mile) relay will last 130 days, with an international leg covering five continents and 19 cities starting on April 1 when the torch travels to Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The domestic leg begins on May 4 in south China's Hainan Island and covers 119 cities and all of China's 31 provinces and regions, ending on August 8 at the main Olympic stadium in Beijing.

The flame will pass through Tibet twice, first in early May, when it will be taken to Mount Everest, and again in June when it will pass through Lhasa.

In a sign of the sensitivities regarding the Everest leg, Nepal said Friday it would block access to the mountain from its side of the border to prevent pro-Tibetan protests from interfering with the Chinese climb up the peak.

Nepal's tourism minister, Prithvi Subba Gurung, said expeditions would be banned from May 1-10, following requests from Chinese authorities.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Monday it hoped the relay would go ahead as planned.

"The IOC calls for a peaceful solution to the events of recent days in Tibet," the organization said in a statement.

"The Olympic flame ... is a powerful symbol which brings the peoples of the world together to overcome their differences," it said.