George Clooney’s high-tech plan to stop Sudan civil war

LONDON - Oscar-winning actor George Clooney has revealed that his hi-tech attempt to prevent the continuation of civil war in Sudan is “the best use of his celebrity”.

The actor’s pressure group ‘Not On Our Watch’ is funding a project that uses commercial satellites to monitor any signs of impending conflict.

There have been concerns that a referendum could reopen a decades-old civil war, if the oil-rich south of Sudan votes to split from the north.

Clooney says he wants President Omar al Bashir to be aware that if he uses force against innocent civilians, the world is watching.

“A lot of bad things happen when the lights are turned off, in particular in Sudan, and so we are just trying to turn the floodlight on,” Sky News quoted him as saying.

“Our big argument is this: we are always late and we always come in and say ‘We didn’t know’, and ‘Had I known I would have done something about Rwanda or Cambodia’.But rather than triage this after it has happened, it’s infinitely cheaper and infinitely more effective to do it beforehand,” he said.

In association with the anti-genocide group, Enough Project, the website will allow experts to analyse and record imagery of any signs of aggression or movement of refugees.

Clooney said that is sensible to harness the technology.

“You can Google Earth my house any time, and zoom right down onto it. I want people who do really evil acts to enjoy the same level of celebrity that I do.

“They want to be famous, you’re famous now - if it works, it’s worth doing everywhere because it’s infinitely cheaper than taking all these people to refugee camps and paying to keep them alive,” he said. (ANI)