MEDIA ALERT: 11 June 2014
Contact: Christina DiPasquale, 202.716.1953, [email protected]
George Clooney and John Prendergast’s Wake-Up Call:
Sudan’s Silent War May be World’s Most Murderous
George Clooney and Enough Project co-founder John Prendergast, in an opinion piece published today, call for urgent attention to a resurgence of the war by Sudan’s government against its own people. The statement comes in advance of a new investigative report by Vice Media’s Ben Anderson premiering this Friday on HBO, which reveals violence in Sudan rising to unprecedented levels.
The original Vice News segment “THE FORGOTTEN WAR” airs this Friday, June 13 at 11:00 pm (ET) on HBO.
“Under the cover of darkness, in a world whose attention is diverted by more camera-accessible crises in Syria, Ukraine, and the Central African Republic (CAR), the Sudan government has revived and intensified its genocidal strategy in the main war zones of Sudan,” say Clooney and Prendergast, who together founded the Enough Project’s Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP).
“This is a crisis the U.S. can help resolve”
The Clooney-Prendergast statement also comes with key recommendations that concerned Americans and policymakers can support, including preventive diplomacy and giving the U.S. Treasury Department the resources it needs to follow the money enabling mass atrocities and enforce sanctions against Sudanese war criminals and their commercial interests.
Last month, the two founders announced that SSP, a program using satellite imagery and forensic investigation to monitor and warn against atrocities and human rights abuses in war-torn Sudan and South Sudan, will expand its work to undertake forensic investigations to reveal how those committing mass atrocities are funding their activities and where they are hiding their stolen assets.
To read the full opinion piece by Clooney and Prendergast, visit: https://news.vice.com/article/sudans-silent-suffering-is-getting-worse
Learn more about the conflict in Sudan and how to take action.
To speak with an Enough Project or Vice Media spokesperson on this topic, please contact Christina DiPasquale at 202.716.1953 or [email protected].
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The Enough Project is a project of the Center for American Progress to end genocide and crimes against humanity. Founded in 2007, Enough focuses on the crises in Sudan, South Sudan, eastern Congo, and areas affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army. Enough conducts intensive field research, develops practical policies to address these crises, and shares sensible tools to empower citizens and groups working for change. To learn more: www.enoughproject.org.
The Satellite Sentinel Project, co-founded by George Clooney and John Prendergast, is a partnership between the Enough Project and Not On Our Watch. SSP uses satellite imagery and forensic investigation to assess the human security situation, and detect, deter and document war crimes and crimes against humanity. SSP recently announced an expansion of its work to focus on the economic drivers of mass atrocities and human rights abuses, and to encompass some of the world’s most violent regions of conflict, including Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Central African Republic. For more information on the Satellite Sentinel Project, please visit www.satsentinel.org.