UNITED NATIONS – The call came shortly after Don Cheadle caught the attention of the world with his Oscar-nominated performance in the 2004 movie “Hotel Rwanda.”
U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., who serves on the House’s Africa Subcommittee, saw the movie about the Rwandan genocide and wanted to tell the actor that something similar was happening in the Darfur region of Sudan.
“He said that he believed the film had similar echoes and resonance to what was happening in Darfur,” recalled Cheadle, in a recent interview at the United Nations, where he and fellow actor George Clooney were lobbying on behalf of the war-torn country.
“They had been unable to generate any sort of attention in the press about it. He said, ‘Perhaps you can come with us in an effort to shine light on the area.’”
Celebrity interest in issues can be fleeting, but for Cheadle that call was the start of a long-term commitment to Darfur.
Cheadle wasn’t looking for a cause at the time. He was busy executive-producing the Oscar-winning “Crash” and co-starring in “Ocean’s Thirteen.” But he agreed to take the trip with Royce and his congressional delegation.
What he saw in Darfur – where perhaps as many as 450,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced since 2003 – left him “outraged.”
Cheadle and Royce visited Tine, where they saw children whose limbs had been chopped off with machetes and people who had lost their hearing in bombings. What was once a vibrant city of 400,000 had become a ghost town. Civilians fled to refugee camps, where they were vulnerable to more attacks.
“Once you’ve seen with your own eyes what’s happening, it’s very difficult to do anything but what we’re doing, continue to advocate for some peace and security for the citizens there,” Cheadle said.
The situation in Darfur, located in the western region of Sudan, is complex: The ethnic war began in July 2003 when fighting broke out mainly between the Janjaweed, an Islamic fundamentalist militia group formed by the Abbala (camel-herding Arabs), and the non-Baggara people (mostly black Muslim farmers).
Under pressure, the U.N. in August approved a 17,300-member peacekeeping force for the region, but the Sudanese government – which supports the Janjaweed – said it would consider U.N. troops “foreign invaders.”
Clooney and Cheadle, with Olympians Joey Cheek and Tegla Loroupe, recently traveled to China and Egypt to ask the governments to help end the conflict.
Cheadle said he learned recently that their group was the highest level of delegation to travel to China and Egypt to bring awareness to the situation, a fact he found appalling.
“It’s, like, really? That’s the highest importance that this thing has held?” the actor told reporters last week.
Cheadle said he has found himself describing the Darfur situation in much the same terms his character uses in “Hotel Rwanda,” notably a scene in which Cheadle, playing hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina, tells Rwandans hiding at his hotel that they cannot rely on the U.N. peacekeepers to save them.
“There will be no rescue, no intervention force. We can only save ourselves … Many of you know influential people abroad. You must call these people … You must shame them into sending help.”
Last year, Cheadle updated his Web site (www.doncheadle.com) toinclude information about Darfur, with links to relief agencies working in the region. He appeared in an Amnesty International public-service announcement on Darfur that was later included on the “Hotel Rwanda” DVD. It generated more than $100,000 in donations, according to Bonnie Abaunza, Amnesty’s liaison to the entertainment industry.
The actor has been working on a book on the Darfur situation called “Not on Our Watch” with activist John Prendergast.
Clooney and Cheadle, meanwhile, hope to make more diplomatic trips abroad.
“We want to stand up and make as much noise as possible,” Cheadle said. “Hundreds of thousands of people are dying. We can’t walk away.”
Associated Press
Actor Don Cheadle responds to a question during a news conference Dec. 15 on the crisis in Darfur at United Nations headquarters.
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