Clooney, Google, UN Team Up To Watch Sudan Border

WASHINGTON — A group founded by American actor George Clooney said Tuesday it has teamed up with Google, a U.N. agency and anti-genocide organizations to launch satellite surveillance of the border between north and south Sudan to try to prevent a new civil war after the south votes in a secession referendum next month.

Clooney's Not On Our Watch is funding the start-up phase Satellite Sentinel Project that will collect real-time satellite imagery and combine it with field analysis from the Enough Project and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, organizers said.

The data will point out movements of troops, civilians and other signs of impending conflict. The U.N. Operational Satellite Applications Program and Google will then publish the findings online.

"We want to let potential perpetrators of genocide and other war crimes know that we're watching, the world is watching," Clooney said in a statement. "War criminals thrive in the dark. It's a lot harder to commit mass atrocities in the glare of the media spotlight."

The groups hope that early warnings will reduce the risk of violence.

Southern Sudan's looming Jan. 9 independence referendum has raised fears of renewed north-south civil war. The vote is the result of a 2005 peace deal that ended a 21-year conflict that claimed the lives of two million people and left twice as many displaced.

Organizers said the Satellite Sentinel Project will be available online Wednesday at . http://www.satsentinel.org

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Comments

[marijam]

10:42 AM on 01/01/2011

While reading this, I thought to myself, one person can make a difference. If all rich and famous people would do something similar this would be a better world. And then I thought, maybe most of them are, and we just don't know about it.

[Krisgi]

09:49 AM on 12/31/2010

He is even more beautiful on the inside than on the outside. And that´s saying a lot.

Bravo, George. Keep up the great work.

[Crushedknee]

09:17 AM on 12/31/2010

I know this seems kinda of weird but If you don't want another care about Sudanese Genocide blackout then Support the reopening of this rare earth mine in California http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Pass_rare_earth_mine and others around the world..China's support of the Sudanese government and its willingness to selectively embargo and limit the export of these minerals has a lot to do with what happened before.

[HekmagaJuximakLives]

07:03 PM on 12/30/2010

Did Clooney blunder by revealing that troop movements were going to be analyzed and disseminated, possibly to the Sudanese government's enemies? And does this put Sudanese people's lives in peril (more than usual) if they are seen in the company of Americans?

[knowmadd]

03:33 PM on 01/09/2011

I dont think this action will put more Sudanese lives in danger and this is not to be seen as an a American project simply. This is a unified effort of many nations people with real concern for the Sudanese in collaboration with George Clooney, (a good use of star status if their ever was one, I think) who are attempting to prevent such peril. Beyond that, this is a seriously good focus for the worlds media as a force of good in our messed up world. This could be a new formula for journalism/media as a corporate goal rather than sensationalized marketing for ratings and manufacturers of division.

[ejreed]

02:30 PM on 12/30/2010

Clooney Receives Humanitarian Honors
Film star George Clooney was recently honored for his humanitarian efforts during the Ripple of Hope awards. The event was put on by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights. http://www.newslook.com/videos/267224-clooney-receives-humanitarian-honors?autoplay=true

[MrBwood]

08:48 PM on 12/29/2010

I hate fffi ng h P.

[knowmadd]

03:35 PM on 01/09/2011

quit drinking the hatorade don't you see their is good to be done!

[Never Again]

12:25 PM on 12/29/2010

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and my opinion is that anyone on here disparaging what Clooney is doing is either a truly hateful person or just posting comments to get a rise out of others.

The north agreed to allow the south to vote on independen­ce. Seeing that in the last presidenti­al election the south overwhelmi­ngly voted for the candidate from the south instead of Bashir, we can conclude that the south will vote for independen­ce. Based in the history of aggression from the north, we can also conclude that there is a strong possibilit­y that the north will either intimidate before and during the election or invade the south after the election results are in, or both. What Clooney's organization, the UN, and Google are attempting to do here is prevent a potential slaughter of innocent civilians who would be the majority of the victims of another civil war.

[wdw505]

02:48 PM on 12/29/2010

so great more US tax dollars wasted on people that will most likely be dead soon anyway of disease, starvation or war

[Never Again]

03:25 PM on 12/29/2010

What U.S. tax dollars?

[appacom]

07:02 PM on 01/04/2011

Not On Our Watch is putting up the initial funding, and Clooney has vowed to find more funding. Miserable, aren't you?

[SaltyWench]

12:25 PM on 12/29/2010

Let's just hope there will be a "glare of the media spotlight". The media has been sadly lacking when in comes to that region.

[grievingarchangel]

11:38 AM on 12/29/2010

I have to give major props to the groups involved. Darfur/Sudan has been in desperate need of assistance for some time. As an example, during the last round of genocide, the refugee camps were being watched so that if anyone left a camp to get water then if it was a man, he would be killed, a child would be kidnapped, or a woman would be raped, so the women would go because the thought was that rape was the least detrimental out of the other choices. Pray anyone who doubts the good of this cause never has to be given that choice.

[ValdaDeDieu]

11:35 AM on 12/29/2010

This is something that's needed. Every time I think George Clooney is a mensch, he goes and out-does himself! Putting genocide on watch is a brilliant idea. People can do heinous things when they think their deeds hidden, not so much when the whole world is watching.

[Nick McIntosh]

11:26 AM on 12/29/2010

always been one of my favorite actors, now he's one of my favorite humans as well.

[kgay]

11:12 AM on 12/29/2010

Can we have him for president? Pleeease?

[Krisgi]

09:42 AM on 12/31/2010

Ditto. Wet dream inside another wet dream!

[Totto]

11:08 AM on 12/29/2010

Mr. Clooney has always "walked the talk", in direct contrast to those who buy their husbands $2 million Bugatti's. He cares deeply about people other than himself.

[duffmt6]

11:01 AM on 12/29/2010

Some of the comments on here are ridiculous. What Clooney does with his money is his business, and I admire the fact he is putting it towards good. Just because this isn't the cause some of you would have supported (e.g. "his money would be better spent here in the US" from one of the comments below) doesn't mean it's not important. Clooney is trying to save lives. What are you doing for the world?

[knowmadd]

03:41 PM on 01/09/2011

Let's see if anybody can top this for "best use of my top 2% tax break"! Go G!

[MidwestHeart]

10:54 AM on 12/29/2010

These spy technologies can be used for good and for ill. This is one situation where I would hope a world court would be in agreement. A US court might not, but the rest of the world would see the justice in this. If you commit horrible crimes, perhaps you do give up some rights. This would not be the first time someone who has a history of wrong doing gave up their privacy.

[Robin J]

11:28 AM on 12/29/2010

You give up the same privacy walking down a street in NYC or London. 98% of all that you do outside of your house/office is recorded on a security or traffic cameras somewhere. This is no exception- and I love the application.

[MidwestHeart]

10:41 PM on 12/29/2010

Its true. No private space outside of inside spaces, and then not even many of those. To see a positive aspect to that phenomena is a relief of sorts.

[knowmadd]

03:51 PM on 01/09/2011

Yes these technologies well with a media with real journalists and world focus could become a new normal with a little idealism. Idea's like this and the substance of the truth given to our world via WikiLeaks will only lead to much needed change in a world bent on power=$$$$$=control or $$$$$=power=control over human lives worldwide.