Clooney, Google to Become 'Anti-Genocide Paparazzi'

As southern Sudan votes on a secession referendum Jan. 9, sparking fears of a new civil war with the north, someone will be watching: George Clooney. And the actor hopes you’ll watch, too, via his new Satellite Sentinel Project website, the AP reports. The idea: Train a bunch of cameras on Sudan in an effort to spotlight the region—and hopefully halt genocide and war crimes. “We are the anti-genocide paparazzi,” Clooney tells Time.

The project, a joint effort with Google, the UN, and anti-genocide organizations, will provide real-time satellite surveillance of the border, because “it’s a lot harder to commit mass atrocities in the glare of the media spotlight,” and Clooney wants Sudanese leaders “to enjoy the level of celebrity attention that I usually get,” he says. “This is as if this were 1943 and we had a camera inside Auschwitz and we said, 'OK, if you guys don't want to do anything about it, that's one thing. But you can't say you did not know.’”
(More Sudan stories.)