During the summer of 2011, the people in South Sudan celebrated as they became citizens of the world's newest nation. After decades of internal violence in Sudan, the South won its independence in a January 2011 referendum. But the South's hard-won freedom hasn't stopped the fighting for oil-rich territory and over ethnic divisions. Sudan is a major oil supplier to China and other nations.
Shortly before the formal break, the Sudanese government took military action in the border areas of Abyei and South Kordofan. That region had been aligned with the South, but now lies north of the new border. Fighting there has continued, with growing appeals for world action.
Actor George Clooney is a longtime advocate for peace across Sudan. He visited the border region recently and spoke at a U.S. Senate hearing this week. Clooney described repeated rocket attacks, and said they amount to war crimes.Clooney appeared at the hearing with human rights activist John Prendergast. He's a co-founder of the Enough Project, an anti-genocide advocacy group. Prendergast spoke of new awareness of global human rights issues.
"We have seen a war between the government in Sudan in the southern part of Sudan, the southern third of Sudan, which went on for 20 years and cost two-and-a-quarter-million lives. The way the government in Khartoum fought that war and the way they fought the war in Darfur and the way they're fighting a war now in Nuba Mountains, where we just came back from, is that -- has used the exact same tactics," he said to PBS NewsHour's Judy Woodruff recently.
For more on this story and others about South Sudan, go to www.pbs.org/newshour.
Quotes
"But what it does is, it creates this environment of fear. Every time you hear the sounds of those engines -- and it takes about five minutes for them to get there, and they circle. Every time you hear the sound, everyone runs and runs to the hills." George Clooney, Actor
"And, therefore, we don't have real opponents here, except for just indifference or often ignorance. People just don't know. So the thing that I find exciting about the first 10 years of the 21st century of activism is the chance through social media and other fora to create real partnerships. Between all these wonderful non-governmental organizations that are working so diligently on these issues." John Prendergast, Enough Project
Warm Up Questions
1.Name 4 countries that border South Sudan.2.What is advocacy?3.What is genocide? Provide 3 examples.
Discussion Questions
1.Why do you think George Clooney and John Prendergast testified at a recent Senate hearing? What do you think they will accomplish? 2.Should the U.S. interfere in the conflict between Sudan and South Sudan, why or why not?3.If you were President Obama, how would you handle the situation in South Sudan?
Additional Resources
