Angelina and Brad give $1 Mil to Darfur, Sudan

By Stone Martindale May 11, 2007, 15:54 GMT

Brad Pitt is seen in Palm Springs, California January 6, 2007. The outlines of an eco-friendly residential development backed by Pitt were sketched on Thursday in a New Orleans neighborhood hit hard by Hurricane Katrina. REUTERS/Fred Prouser

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie may not be getting married, but that has not stopped their joint efforts and good deeds from making the news.

TMZ.com reports that Brangelina "donated a cool million bucks yesterday to assist refugees in the Darfur region of Sudan."

The beneficiaries are a variety of relief organizations working to help people displaced by the ongoing war in the region.

According to Media Monitors reporter Iqbal Siddiqui, the western human rights and charitable bodies "have organized a series of events to mark the fourth anniversary of the outbreak of fighting in the Darfur region of western Sudan."

Said Siddiqui: "During this period, Darfur has become a by-word for human tragedy, with the Sudanese government of Omar Bashir being blamed for perpetrating a 'genocide' against 'African' tribespeople in the region, with the help of the notorious Janjaweed, described as militants belonging to 'Arab' tribes, supported and equipped by the Sudanese government. 

...Independent reports confirm that a massive tragedy has undoubtedly taken place there, even if the scale has been exaggerated by some parties for their own political purposes. Although African Union troops have been posted in the region as peacekeepers since 2005, peace agreement was reached last year and further talks between the government and various factions are due to resume this month, there appears little prospect of the issue being resolved any time soon."

http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/43249