GEORGE CLOONEY - CLOONEY'S FATHER HAUNTED BY LOST CHILD STORY

CLOONEY'S FATHER HAUNTED BY LOST CHILD STORY

GEORGE CLOONEY's politician father is haunted by the memory of a young mother he met during a fact-finding trip to Sudan he took with his son last April (06) - after she told him how she lost her child. Newsman-turned-activist NICK CLOONEY interviewed victims of the genocide in Darfur during the mercy mission, and the harrowing footage the Clooneys took now features in a new TV documentary A JOURNEY TO DARFUR. But there's one mental image Nick Clooney can't shake - the story of one woman who was so determined to escape from the pillaging Janjaweed militia, who have burned villages to the ground throughout Sudan, she left her six-year-old behind. He says, "She said she called to the six-year-old as she ran, and heard his voice become more and more faint." The woman, who the Clooneys fear has since died, escaped with her baby in her arms and her teenage son, but she had not seen her lost son since the Janjaweed attack. A Journey to Darfur which will be broadcast on AmericanLife TV Network on Monday (15JAN07). The Sudan conflict has claimed an estimated 200,000 lives since the fighting in Darfur began almost four years ago (FEB03).