Angelina Jolie asks Obama to do more for Sudanese People

Actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie wants President Obama's administration to take greater steps towards establishing peace in Sudan.

Jolie, in her role as the co-chair of the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, wrote an op-ed piece for Newsweek magazine on Thursday, the day Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize.

Jolie wrote that Obama's administration has not yet announced any serious moves to bring corrupt Sudanese leaders to justice and said she is worried that the administration does not have a clear enough plan to improve the lives of the Sudanese people.

"I believe President Obama and his special envoy Scott Gration will do their best to bring peace to the region," Jolie, a U.N. goodwill ambassador, wrote. "Their policy, though, raises a number of questions.

How is the Obama administration's approach to Sudan an evolution of justice? In addition, when the administration says it intends to work to 'improve the lives of the people of Darfur,' I would like to know what that means, besides the obvious point that their lives could hardly get worse."

In the piece, headlined "Justice Delayed Is Not Justice Denied," Jolie suggests the administration "explore ways to bring [Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir] to justice." "This means bringing all permanent members of the U.N. Security Council on board to send the message that the international community will not tolerate mass atrocities," Jolie wrote.

She added, "I also hope we will act sooner and more powerfully to prevent future atrocities," and suggested the administration look to a Council on Foreign Relations report funded by the Jolie-Pitt Foundation that "offers recommendations to improve the U.N. Security Council's responsiveness by discouraging vetoes in cases of mass atrocities, while urging the United States to make clear its willingness to act on its own if necessary."

The actress and her partner Brad Pitt, who together have six children, created the Jolie-Pitt Foundation in 2006 and have used it to donate to a variety of
humanitarian causes and to fund research.

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