Posted on 12/15/2006 9:35:17 PM PST by traumer
Actor George Clooney has spoken of the horrors he witnessed when he visited the Sudanese region of Darfur, saying the area urgently needs peacekeepers.
The Hollywood star told the BBC that the levels of murder and rape convinced him ethnic cleansing was occurring.
At least 200,000 people have died in the region and some 2.5 million are homeless after three years of fighting.
The sharply deteriorating security has led to the withdrawal of 250 relief workers, leaving many vulnerable.
Pressure
Mr Clooney told the BBC's Laura Trevelyan, in New York, that everyone he met in Darfur told of several family members who had been victims of targeted violence.
"That's not just a war," he said.
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Clooney lobbies on Darfur Q&A: Peacekeeping in Darfur
"That is actually ethnic cleansing."
He said a larger peacekeeping contingent was immediately needed and called on all rebel factions to sign up to a May ceasefire agreement.
Mr Clooney also spoke of a recent trip to both Egypt and China - two countries which he said could do more to encourage Sudan to increase the number of peacekeepers, a proposal that Khartoum rejects.
"We think that China has quietly been doing some negotiations; Egypt has been participating in the peace process - we think they can do a lot better," he told reporters in New York.
Accountability
In Washington, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Sudan would be held accountable if it refused additional troops.
The violence has intensified despite the presence of some 7,000 African Union peacekeepers.
"The Sudanese need to be convinced that if they are not willing to accept help from the international system, then they're going to be held accountable for anything that happens," she told Reuters.
Also on Friday a group of six aid agencies said they had been forced to withdraw from Darfur because of the "unprecedented difficulties" of working in the region.
The group - which included Oxfam, the International Rescue Committee, Goal, Concern, World Vision and the Norwegian Refugee Council - said they were becoming direct targets of violence.
The conflict began in early 2003, when a rebellion by local groups triggered a counter-offensive by the army and government-backed Arab militias.
Why would anyone listen to this man of low character?
"Send in Kofi and son --"
I have hoped Jimmy Carter and bill clinton would get involved in Darfur!
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
It's not "ethnic cleansing", it's just another ho hum muslim genocide.
And it begs the question- if George Clooney can become an expert for having spent a couple weeks in Darfur, does that not mean that the average soldier on the ground in Iraq/Afghanistan is also an expert concerning their own respective theatre of operations?
Won't be holding my breath waiting for the Beeb to interview any soldiers who think we ought to lay waste to Arab terrorists...
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