Editor's Note: Mark Leon Goldberg is the managing editor of the UN Dispatch blog.

By Mark Leon Goldberg, UN Dispatch

By now, you have no doubt heard that George Clooney, several members of congress, and a bunch of other activists were arrested protesting outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington, DC.

Here’s why George got sent to the slammer:

You’ve probably heard of Darfur, the region in western Sudan where the Sudanese government used genocide as a tactic to surpress a rebellion.  And you have also probably heard that there was a 20 year civil war between Sudan and South Sudan.  That civil war ended with a 2005 peace agreement. Per the peace agreement, South Sudan became an independent country last June. It is the UN’s newest member state.

The border region between South Sudan and Sudan is called the Nuba mountains. This area is largely populated by ethnic groups that supported the South during the civil war, but now find themselves living on the north side of the border. For several months, the Sudanese military has been trying to purge their former adversaries and disarm rebel groups.  Some of the tactics the Sudanese government has used are very reminiscent of Darfur: namely, targeting the civilian populations to get at the militias. FULL POST