Hollywood stars George Clooney and Don Cheadle received an award in Rome on Thursday in recognition of their efforts to promote awareness of the plight of the people of Darfur. "Don and I... stand here before you as failures," George told the gathering, comparing the pair's endeavours to those of the Nobel Laureates in the audience, which included the Dalai Lama and Mikhail Gorbachev.
Through their charity Not On Our Watch the Ocean's Thirteen co-stars have worked to raise money and awareness of the tragedy in western Sudan. Most recently they appeared in the documentary Darfur Now, a call for help to end the crisis in the region.
Accepting the Peace Summit trophy, George took the pair's message onto the podium. "When they write about this, the question will be asked: 'Where was the rest of the world?'. And the answer will be: 'It just wasn't a priority'."
Fellow honouree Don, who received an Oscar nod for Hotel Rwanda, a film focusing on another war-torn African region, described the award as "an inspiration to keep up the fight".
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
