Academy Award winner George Clooney has stepped down as a United Nations "Messenger of Peace," the United Nations said on Monday, suggesting the newly engaged actor did not have enough time for the role promoting the world body's peacekeeping efforts, according to Reuters.
As a messenger of peace, Clooney traveled to Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, Reuters reported. Dujarric said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hoped there would be future opportunities for collaboration between Clooney and the United Nations.
"After six years in this role, Mr. Clooney feels it is time to retire his official role as Messenger of Peace," said U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric, wishing Clooney well on his engagement to human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin, according to Reuters.
"The competing demands on their time from their professional and advocacy lives sometimes make it difficult for high-profile individuals to carry out a formal United Nations role," Clooney said, Reuters reported.
In 2010, Clooney helped found the Satellite Sentinel Project, which tracks human rights abuses and mass atrocities in Sudan, according to Reuters.
"Retiring from his U.N. role will afford him the independence to move forward with this and other personal advocacy projects and activities," Dujarric said, Reuters reported.
When Clooney was named a U.N. Messenger of Peace in 2008, Ban cited his work on raising awareness about violence in Sudan's conflict-torn western Darfur region, where he advocated for aid for the millions of people displaced by fighting, according to Reuters.
