Clooney funded spy-satellite revealing secrets of Sudan's bloody army

Actor and activist George Clooney has funded a hi-tech project that is tracking troops and warning civilians of attacks in Sudan using a spy-satellite.

According to the Guardian, the situation in Sudan is complex and violent and ever since the mostly-black African South Sudan gained independence from the Arab-dominated north last year border disputes have flared, especially over the region's oil resources.

Meanwhile, powerful figures in the north fear that provinces along the southern border with its new neighbour may also seek to break free of Khartoum, the report said.

The army crackdown is aimed at discouraging such hopes, or even changing the ethnic mix of the area in favour of those groups who that want to stick with Khartoum, the report added.

In one astonishing set of images, the satellite even captured an Antonov transport plane, from which Sudanese forces regularly roll out bombs, caught in mid-flight with plumes of smoke rising where the explosives had been dumped on civilian targets, the report further said.