News APP

NewsApp (Free)

Read news as it happens
Download NewsApp
Home  » News » George Clooney fights for Sudan

George Clooney fights for Sudan

December 13, 2006 16:10 IST
Get Rediff News in your Inbox:

George ClooneyClooney the Crusader is back in action.

Oscar-winner and People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive George Clooney is doing his best to raise awareness about the killings in Sudan's Darfur region. Since 2003, about 2,00,000 people have been killed in an ongoing ethnic conflict in Darfur, a region of western Sudan. Another 2.5 million people have been displaced.

To this end, Clooney led a small delegation of activists to meet with Chinese government officials, and then travel to Cairo before returning to the US.

The Times quoted a representative of the actor as saying that Clooney 'organised the trip to make a personal plea to Chinese and Egyptian officials to use their ties with the Sudanese government to help stop the violence.'

The actor's contingent included were Kenyan Olympian Tegla Loroupe, United Nations ambassador of sport; American speed skater Joey Cheek; Don Cheadle, one of Clooney's Ocean's Eleven costars; and David Pressman, a human rights lawyer and former aide to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Ever since he visited Darfur in April, Clooney has been pushing to end the hideous violence. The actor has been attending rallies, lobbying politicians and doing the rounds of the talk show circuit.

Clooney has also requested the UN Security Council to assemble an international peacekeeping force to protect civilians in the region.

Good luck, George.

Photograph: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images

Get Rediff News in your Inbox: