U.S. film actor George Clooney says he has urged the Obama
administration to step up U.S. efforts to solve the humanitarian crisis
in the Sudanese region of Darfur.
The Academy Award-winning
actor met with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at
the White House Monday to brief them on his recent trip to refugee
camps on the Sudanese-Chadian border.
In a nationally
televised interview after his meeting on CNN's Larry King Live,
Clooney said the 250,000 refugees living in the camps are "hanging on
by the skin of their teeth" (a colloquial phrase used to describe the
refugees' precarious situation).
Clooney said he urged the
president and vice president to appoint a full-time envoy to the region
who will report directly to the White House. He also called on China
to apply pressure on the Sudanese government to end the violence in the
region.
China is a major customer of Sudan's natural resources, which it uses to feed its massive economy.
Clooney, who is a United Nations Messenger of Peace, said Khartoum denied him a visa to visit camps in Darfur.
The
U.N. says more than 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur since
2003 in fighting between rebels and the Sudanese government and allied
militias. Another 2.7 million people have been driven from their
homes.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
