George Clooney leads Darfur genocide protest

Thousands of people joined celebrities and lawmakers at a US rally yesterday urging the Bush administration and Congress to help end genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region.

Actor George Clooney, just back from Africa, was the event’s big draw. He said the US’ and United Nations’ policies are failing – and citizens must demand change.

“This is in fact the first genocide of the 21st century, but there is hope: all of you,” the actor said. “Every one of you speaking with one voice, every one of you.”

“You feel completely overwhelmed,” Clooney told AP Radio News ahead of the rally. “We flew over areas and my father and I would look at each other and go, this is just too much. But then what are we to do? Nothing?”

The crowd responded by chanting “Not on our watch!”, and a parade of speakers lined up for their turn on a stage on the National Mall, the Capitol serving as a backdrop.

“The personal motivation for a lot of us is the Holocaust,” said Boston-based Rabbi Or Rose of Jewish Seminarians for Justice. “Given our history and experience, we feel an obligation to stand up and speak out.”

The organisers’ permit anticipated 10,000 to 15,000 people would rally, one of several in US cities this weekend against what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.

Meanwhile, rebels in Darfur yesterday rejected a peace proposal that would end a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people, but mediators extended the talks for two days under pressure from the US.

Salim Ahmed Salim, a lead mediator for the African Union, said the talks would continue until midnight tomorrow, pushing back the deadline for talks that have gone on for two years but so far failed to halt the bloodshed.

Earlier, the rebels called for changes to the deal – after the Sudanese government indicated it would accept the proposal.

Years of fighting between ethnic groups and Arab militias in western Sudan have left at least 180,000 people dead and about two million homeless. Darfur’s violence recently spilled into neighbouring Chad and threatens to escalate: Osama bin Laden last week urged his followers to go to Sudan to fight a proposed UN presence.

Amid the negotiations, the plight of three million refugees in Darfur has worsened. The UN World Food Program said on Friday that it was cutting rations in half, citing a lack of funds.

Sudan has indicated it might accept a UN force in Darfur to aid African Union troops if a peace treaty is signed, and the head of Sudan’s delegation, Magzoub El-Khalif, said yesterday that the government is willing to accept a draft resolution circulated last week.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on China and Russia to join the US in pushing Sudan to accept UN forces.

The Sudanese government had said it was ready to sign the agreement. But a spokesman for one of Sudan’s rebel factions said the proposal does not adequately address implementation nor their key demands for a vice president from Darfur and more autonomy. Hahmed Hussein, a spokesman for the Justice and Equality Movement, said he was speaking for both rebel factions.

An agreement between Sudan and the rebels probably would be seen as a triumph of African diplomacy. The talks have been organised by the 53-nation African Union, with key participation from leaders from South Africa and Nigeria.

The initial draft released on Wednesday addressed complaints from Darfur rebel groups that they had been neglected by the national government. It called for the president to include a Darfur expert, initially nominated by the rebels, among his top advisers.

In the draft, mediators also proposed that the people of Darfur vote by 2010 on whether to create a single geographical entity out of the three Darfur states, which would presumably have more political weight.