Charge Sudan’s Bashir for “war crimes”, Clooney tells US senators
March 14, 2012 (WASHINGTON) — George Clooney, renowned Hollywood star, on Thursday accused the Sudanese government of allegedly carrying out indiscriminate attacks and bombings on innocent civilians in the
troubled region of Southern Kordofan.
committee on foreign relation that Washington must be tough on President Bashir and other Sudanese officials wanted by the Hague based International
Criminal Court (ICC), if the situation is to improve.
“They are proving themselves to be the greatest war criminals of this
century, by far,” Clooney told the panel, while calling upon
Washington to freeze offshore accounts of indicted Sudanese officials.
Clooney called for their money to be found and frozen, like the US Administration did during the anti-terror war. The actor told the CNN, “these guys are not buying their weapons with Sudanese pounds. So find their offshore accounts in Malaysia, places like that, and freeze them”.
According to Clooney, the violence between Sudanese soldiers and rebels aligned with South Sudan in border areas mainly involved
repeated attacks on unarmed civilians, who already face a serious
humanitarian crisis.
“We saw that very specifically happening on two occasions: rape,
starvation, lack of humanitarian aid. They’re scaring the hell out of
these people and they’re killing, hoping and trying to get them just
to leave,” Clooney told US Senators.
The US actor also detailed before a packed audience how he and
fellow peace activist, John Prendergast, survived aerial bombing
campaigns allegedly carried out by rockets, while touring villages in
the Nuba mountains.
Clooney and Prendergast are co-founders of the satellite sentinel
project; an organisation that uses satellite images to monitor and
deter violence in Sudan and South Sudan, which Clooney calls
“anti-genocide paparazzi”.
The US actor said that China, which has heavily invested in Sudan, can
play fundamental roles in brokering a peace deal in the country.
“What I’d like is for the president to send a high-level envoy to
China,” he said, adding that, “We believe there’s a moment in time
when we can have a non-adversarial relationship with them”.
Clooney’s testimony before the senate comes days after meeting South
Sudan leader, President Salva Kiir during which the duo extensively discussed the worsening relations between Sudan and South Sudan.
The meeting, held in Juba, South Sudan’s capital also discussed the
status of the post-secession negotiations between the two countries as
well as the situation of people affected by the conflict in Blue Nile
and Southern Kordofan states.
(ST)