Everest test for Beijing torch in 2007

BEIJING, Jan 3 (Reuters) A rehearsal for the Olympic flame's first trip to the top of the world's highest mountain will be televised later this year, according to Beijing organisers.

The ascent of Mount Everest, known in China by its Tibetan name Qomolangma, will be one of the highlights of the torch relay for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

''This rehearsal will be very important for a successful torch relay for the Beijing Olympic Games on the world's highest peak in 2008,'' Liu Jingmin, vice president of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), told the Xinhua news agency yesterday.

''The torch will be designed specifically in order to burn at such a high altitude and the design is in its final stage.'' BOCOG have said the flame will go up the mountain from the southern slope in Nepal before descending to the north into Tibet, Xinhua said.

Chinese troops invaded the mountainous region of Tibet in 1950 and the country's spiritual leader Dalai Lama has been in exile in northern India since 1959.

Tibetan independence activists staged protests during the last two Olympic Games in Turin and Athens.

The full schedule of the torch relay, which must be approved by the International Olympic Committee, has not yet been released.

REUTERS SAM KN1508