George Clooney teams up with Google, UN to watch Sudan using satellites

A group founded by Hollywood star George Clooney is collaborating with Google, a UN agency and anti-genocide organisations to launch satellite surveillance of the border between north and south Sudan to try to prevent a new civil war after the south votes in a secession referendum next month.

Organisers said the actor's 'Not On Our Watch' is funding the start-up phase Satellite Sentinel project, reports the Telegraph.

The project will collect real-time satellite imagery from Sudan and combine it with field analysis from the Enough Project and the Harvard Humanitarian initiative.

It will point out movements of troops, civilians and other signs of impending conflict.

The UN operational satellite applications programme and Google will then publish the findings online.

The groups hope that early warnings will reduce the risk of violence.

"We want to let potential perpetrators of genocide and other war crimes know that we're watching, the world is watching," Clooney said in a statement.

"War criminals thrive in the dark. It's a lot harder to commit mass atrocities in the glare of the media spotlight," he added.