Clooney and Cheadle Honored for Darfur Deeds

Mon., Nov. 26, 2007 8:39 PM PST by Natalie Finn

George Clooney may not be planning a run for office, but he's venturing awfully close to Al Gore territory.

The actor and Ocean's Eleven costar Don Cheadle have been selected to receive the 2007 Peace Summit Award, in honor of their work on behalf of victims of the humanitarian crisis in Sudan's Darfur region, at the upcoming 8th World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.

Former Russian president and Nobel laureate Mikhail Gorbachev, whose foundation cohosts the annual event, will present the award along with Walter Veltroni, the mayor of Rome.

Clooney and Cheadle have made trips to Africa to meet with refugees from the war-torn country and raise awareness, both stateside and abroad, about the plight of more than 2.5 million people who have been displaced by the ongoing conflict between government-supported militias and the region's ethnic tribes. More than 200,000 have been killed since fighting began in 2003.

The co-honorees also traveled together with a small delegation of fellow high-profile activists to Egypt and China—two of Sudan's major trade partners—last December to personally press government officials to intervene.

Clooney has pointedly said that as long as cameras are going to be following him around anyway, they may as well capture something worthwhile. Additionally, Cheadle's efforts to use his celebrity to raise awareness are chronicled in the recently released documentary Darfur Now, which examines the crisis from multiple points of view, including those of an International Criminal Court prosecutor and an antigovernment rebel within the country.

The film features both actors and shows Cheadle addressing United Nations officials about the dire need for action.

Meanwhile, Clooney has signed on to executive produce and narrate the HBO documentary Sand and Sorrow, which will focus on the history leading up to the fight and the international community's painfully slow response.

"I am always moved when I see artists such as George and Don use their positions to speak up for the most vulnerable of our fellow human beings," said Archibishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1984 for his efforts to promote peace in South Africa during apartheid.

"They have brought the suffering in Sudan into the awareness of millions and have raised tens of millions of dollars to assist the victims of violence there," Tutu said. "They inspire us all and show that every person, in every walk of life, can do something to help make the world a better place."

Cheadle and Clooney—along with Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and producer Jerry Weintraub—also organized a series of benefit screenings of Ocean's Thirteen to raise money for the International Rescue Committee and for their own Not on Our Watch Foundation, which they formed at the time to fundraise and further educate the masses about what has been pegged as the first genocide of this century.

Past recipients of the Peace Summit Award include Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens), Peter Gabriel and Live 8 and Live Aid mastermind Bob Geldof.

This year's gathering is scheduled to take place Dec. 13-15 in Rome. Video coverage of the awards ceremony will be available for viewing on www.thecommunity.com.