(Hollywood star Clooney urges action against 'genocide' in Darfur / Photo: AFP)

Actor George Clooney is making a plea for international help in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Clooney visited the region recently and says one girl there asked him when he was going to come back and stop the violence. He told her, "Soon," and she laughed and said, "That's what you always say."

Clooney says he had befriended the girl when she checked on him because he was sick after eating goat.

Clooney made his comments at the National Press Club in Washington. He says the best action he can take to help Sudan is to draw attention to the situation. He says he tries to "use the credit card that you get for being famous in the right instances whenever you can."