George Clooney to highlight protest at Sudan's embassy in Washington

PanARMENIAN.Net - Actor George Clooney will highlight a protest planned for Friday, March 16, at Sudan's embassy in Washington, AP reported.

The protesters accuse Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, of provoking a humanitarian crisis and blocking food and aid from entering the Nuba Mountains in the county's border region with South Sudan.

Others expected to attend the protest include Clooney's father, Nick; NAACP President Ben Jealous; Martin Luther King III and congressmen including Virginia Democrat Jim Moran.

Another Virginia congressman, Republican Frank Wolf, returned from a trip to South Sudan last month and received reports from refugees accusing al-Bashir of orchestrating a campaign of ethnic cleansing, mass murder and rape.

Clooney made a quiet visit to a volatile border region between Sudan and South Sudan last week ahead of testimony he gave before a U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday.

Clooney made the dangerous crossing from South Sudan into Sudan's Nuba Mountains region, Jonathan Hutson, a spokesman for the anti-genocide group the Enough Project, said. Clooney saw burned-out villages and met with residents forced to seek shelter in caves because of aerial attacks by Sudan's military.

Violence has flared along the Sudan-South Sudan border since South Sudan seceded last year, and some experts worry the conflict could grow. South Sudan shut down its oil industry this year after accusing Sudan of stealing its oil.