In his new role as UN messenger of peace, George Clooney was playing himself.That was the easy part for the 46-year-old actor in a high-profile visit Thursday to the United Nations. The hard part was being unable to deliver his message at first.The affable and self-deprecating Clooney joked and shook hands, agreeing to have his picture snapped throughout the day while repeating “Hi guys! as he stepped past hundreds of curious UN employees.But several nations, including Russia and France, refused to let him speak publicly at a meeting of countries that contribute troops to the 17 UN peacekeeping missions, including the force for Sudan s troubled Darfur region, according to UN officials. Clooney s visit had been timed for him to address that group.”It s a tricky thing to answer, because I have to try and find a way to not make part of these stories about me, do you know what I mean? Clooney said during an interview with The Associated Press. “There are groups that don t feel that I necessarily class up the joint and don t feel that I should be speaking to them. … The message got out; I did a press conference. Clooney s visit came just two days after he returned from a two-week trip with Jane Holl Lute, the assistant secretary general of peacekeeping operations, that took them to 19 locations in Darfur, the Central African Republic, Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He says he paid his own way, arriving back in the US by way of India, a major contributor of UN peacekeeping troops.He toured UN headquarters for a ceremony and a new pin on his lapel marking his designation for the special job by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.”I don t know that I ll achieve anything. What I expect to do is not sit on the sidelines and talk about it, but get involved, he told the AP. “I think what moves me the most about this entire trip was the fact that I was in Chad two years ago, and it s worse now there than when I was there. And that Sudan isn t particularly better now. Just as he spoke within the UN s 24-hour nerve center for peacekeeping operations, UN officials were scrambling several doors away to respond to an emergency in Chad. They had learned that rebels were moving toward the African country s capital, and Chadian forces were preparing to fight.As the ninth UN peace envoy, the Oscar winner (best supporting actor for “Syriana ) who has twice been named People Magazine s “Sexiest Man Alive was selected for his ability to focus public attention on critical international political and social issues.”An Oscar s a nice thing to have in your life, but this isn t just sort of an honor, it s a responsibility, he said.He realizes he can say things sometimes that others can t.”I think that that s going to be my job at times, he said. “I have to be somewhat diplomatic, but I can ask a lot of the others, and I think that they kind of enjoy having someone from the outside who just seems like a dumb, loud actor. Instead of delivering his message to the meeting of nations, he spoke before a packed room of reporters.”I am very proud to be here as a messenger of peace, and the message is: That the world is watching, and that at this point we cannot afford to fail, he told a standing-room-only news conference. “There s a lot more responsibility with this one than with an Oscar, which all you really have to do is, you know, drink after the party. The 17 peacekeeping missions that Clooney will support involve more than 100,000 personnel, including 73,000 troops and more than 9,000 international police. One of the newest missions is the joint AU-UN operation in Darfur that started deploying this month.In Darfur, he could see for himself – and had planned to tell the troop-contributing nations – about some of the difficulties the peacekeepers face because none of the nations will contribute helicopters badly needed for getting around the remote region and other equipment.The two-week trip “was planned in secret for obvious security reasons, and worse yet they might have seen some of my films, Clooney said.Clooney took on the job of promoting the world body s peacekeeping missions after waging his own campaigns for an end to the four-and-a-half-year war in Darfur and for more humanitarian aid for the millions caught up in the conflict.He is a co-founder of Not On Our Watch, a humanitarian group that focuses global attention on Darfur s people and has raised more than $9.3 million for the region.Other messengers of peace are Michael Douglas, Elie Wiesel, Jane Goodall, Yo-Yo Ma, Daniel Barenboim, Paulo Coelho, Midori Goto and Princess Haya of Jordan.Clooney said he plans to focus his attention on Darfur and other spots he knows best, but has ambitions to travel broadly in his UN role.He was accompanied on his visit to UN headquarters by his parents, Nick and Nina Clooney.”I am the son of a newsman, so the job of messenger comes with the responsibility to deal with facts, not to tell people what they want to hear, but to tell them what the truth is, unfiltered, Clooney said.
Back from Darfur, George Clooney takes on new role as UN messenger of peace
