Now Heather joins the archbishop's crusade

11 April 2012
The Weekender

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Heather Mills has found a new campaign to occupy her time during her divorce from Sir Paul McCartney.

She is joining forces with Sir Bob Geldof, Clare Short and Archbishop Desmond Tutu in protesting against genocide in Darfur.

Ms Mills is in discussions with international charity Aegis Trust that could see her made a patron and even lead to her going on a potentially dangerous trip to war-torn western Sudan.

A spokesman for the charity confirmed today: "Ms Mills is very supportive of our Darfur campaign and wants to help push that on. She is lending her profile to the campaign. We are in dialogue with her."

Ms Mills has put a link to the charity's Protect Darfur campaign on her own website, a rare recent addition since news of her divorce from McCartney.

Last week she turned up uninvited to a charity exhibition at the Old Vic, donning a blue beret to show support for a campaign to ensure the UN keeps a substantial peacekeeping force in the region.

She posed for pictures with a refugee from Darfur, where an estimated 400,000 people have been killed since fighting broke out in 2003.

Ms Mills, who has long campaigned against landmines, later issued an emotional statement through the charity showing her backing for the

Nottinghambased Aegis Trust, which campaigns to eliminate genocide. The charity's patrons include Geldof, Tutu and Short.

Ms Mills, 38, said: " I ' ve seen Srebrenica. I've seen what happens when the powerful nations

of the world stand by. Politicians everywhere now have to shoulder their responsibility to protect Darfur's Africans.

"Twelve years after Rwanda and 11 years after Srebrenica, we are on the verge of seeing it all happen again.

"If the people of Darfur are to be protected though, this has to be only the beginning. I urge you wherever you are, do what is in your power to help Darfur's people. Speak out. If you don't, these people will die and once again, it will be too late."

It is not clear how Ms Mills heard about the Old Vic event nor why she suddenly found an interest in Darfur.

A spokesman for Aegis suggested it had arisen through her close connections to friends in Slovenia, where the issue of Darfur has been pushed to the fore.

Slovenian campaigner and filmmaker Tomo Kriznar was jailed for six weeks by the Sudanese government for entering the area without the correct papers.

Mr Kriznar, who has briefed Ms Mills on Darfur, said he was pleased another high-profile celebrity had joined the campaign.

"The people in Darfur. don't care who she is as long as she can do something to help," said Mr Kriznar.

Ms Mills was photographed with Adam Hessen, a 25-yearold refugee whose family remains trapped in Darfur at the mercy of the ruthless Janjaweed militia. "I didn't have any discussions with her. Just a photograph," said Mr Hessen, "She didn't talk to me. We were very busy."

Ms Mills and Sir Paul, who have a two-year-old daughter, are locked in an increasingly acrimonious divorce battle in which his £825million fortune is at stake.

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