Note to Correspondents

SECRETARY-GENERAL WILL MEET WITH DELEGATION OF ACTORS, OLYMPIANS

TO DISCUSS DARFUR CRISIS, 15 DECEMBER

On Friday, 15 December, Secretary-General Kofi Annan will meet Academy award-winning actor George Clooney and a delegation comprising renowned actor Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda) and Olympians Tegla Loroupe ( Kenya) and Joey Cheek ( United States) to discuss the crisis in Darfur.  The group will participate in a subsequent press conference.

The meeting with Secretary-General Annan takes place one day after Clooney and his colleagues return from visits to Beijing and Cairo, where they met with senior Government officials to discuss the continuing tragedy in Darfur.

The meeting also comes two days after the Secretary–General welcomed the robust action taken by the Human Rights Council to address the grave human rights situation in Darfur.  He welcomed the Council’s resolution, adopted by consensus, to dispatch a high-level mission to Darfur, composed of highly qualified individuals to be appointed by the President of the Council.  The Secretary-General said the decision of the Human Rights Council sends a united message that the ongoing violence and killing in Darfur is unacceptable and must stop.

Mr. Clooney, Mr. Cheadle, Ms. Loroupe and Mr. Cheek, have become committed advocates for the people of Darfur.  In September, Mr. Clooney teamed up with United Nations Messenger of Peace and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel to address an informal meeting of the Security Council on the crisis in Darfur.

The Clooney delegation will participate in the press conference at United Nations Headquarters immediately after their meeting with the Secretary-General, at approximately 9:45 a.m., on Friday.  They are also available for subsequent media interviews.

For interviews with the group, please contact Yvonne Acosta, tel. 212 963 7214.

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For information media • not an official record