New York:
George Clooney has teamed up withthe UN, Google and others to launch a satellite surveillanceproject to monitor any signs of violence and prevent possiblerights violations in Sudan during a January vote that couldsplit the conflict-hit nation.
The programme will use real-time satellite images toassess the situation on the ground for any signs of conflict,monitor hotspots in real time and post the findings online.
The data will point out movements of troops, civiliansand other signs of impending conflict.
"We want to let potential perpetrators of genocide andother war crimes know that we're watching, the world iswatching," Clooney said in a statement.
"War criminals thrive in the dark. It's a lot harder tocommit mass atrocities in the glare of the media spotlight,"the 49-year-old actor said.
Humanitarian agencies hope the alert system will preventhuman rights violations in Sudan where attacks in the westernDarfur region have killed hundreds of thousands in the pastseven years.
'Not On Our Watch', an organisation co-founded byClooney that focuses on Darfur, is funding the satelliteeffort. It is collaborating with other groups, including theUnited Nations, Google and the Harvard HumanitarianInitiative, CNN reported.
Southern Sudan's looming January 9 independencereferendum 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 andleft twice as many displaced.
The vote is part of a 2005 peace agreement that endedtwo decades of violence between the north and oil-rich south.The conflict led to the deaths of 2 million people, many fromstarvation.
The programme, dubbed the Satellite Sentinel Project, isexpected to be launched this week.
The programme will use real-time satellite images toassess the situation on the ground for any signs of conflict,monitor hotspots in real time and post the findings online.
The data will point out movements of troops, civiliansand other signs of impending conflict.
"We want to let potential perpetrators of genocide andother war crimes know that we're watching, the world iswatching," Clooney said in a statement.
"War criminals thrive in the dark. It's a lot harder tocommit mass atrocities in the glare of the media spotlight,"the 49-year-old actor said.
Humanitarian agencies hope the alert system will preventhuman rights violations in Sudan where attacks in the westernDarfur region have killed hundreds of thousands in the pastseven years.
'Not On Our Watch', an organisation co-founded byClooney that focuses on Darfur, is funding the satelliteeffort. It is collaborating with other groups, including theUnited Nations, Google and the Harvard HumanitarianInitiative, CNN reported.
Southern Sudan's looming January 9 independencereferendum 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 andleft twice as many displaced.
The vote is part of a 2005 peace agreement that endedtwo decades of violence between the north and oil-rich south.The conflict led to the deaths of 2 million people, many fromstarvation.
The programme, dubbed the Satellite Sentinel Project, isexpected to be launched this week.
