George Clooney and Darfur

Taking on the role of peace activist, actor George Clooney recently met with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to discuss the U.S.’s role in pursuing peace in the troubled region of Darfur. “Basically, we were talking about there's a moment coming up relatively soon -- probably by the middle of next week -- where the International Criminal Court is going to indict the president of Sudan for war crimes, which has never happened before -- a sitting president,” Clooney explained. Last year, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was charged with genocide by the International Criminal Court for the government's campaign of violence in Darfur.

Under pressure to end the fighting, Al-Bashir in November agreed to an immediate and unconditional cease-fire in Darfur.

“This isn't about needing American dollars,” Clooney said. “I understand that it's a very difficult time. It's not about needing American troops. It's about needing what we do best -- what we have done best since the start of this country -- which is good, robust diplomacy all across the world.” The priorities, as Clooney advocated to Obama and Biden, are an envoy working full time on bringing peace to Darfur -- someone "getting up every morning with their sole job to find peace in the area,” he said. “Persuading China to leverage its investment muscle in Darfur to push for peace and pressing Egypt, the African Union and Europe to strengthen diplomatic efforts in the region.”

“Diplomacy has to start and it has to be aggressive and it has to start soon. We have an opportunity here,” the actor concluded.