Clooney: End Darfur crisis

December 16, 2006

Experts say around 200,000 people have been killed since the conflict in Sudan flared in 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government, accusing it of neglect. The United Nations says 4 million people in the region rely on humanitarian aid to survive, but that increasing violence and banditry are stopping aid getting through. Rights groups, rebels and a former rebel group that signed a peace deal with the government say Khartoum has armed a proxy militia accused of war crimes in Darfur. The government denies supporting the militia, locally known as the Janjaweed.