Clooney’s aid org gives half million for Darfur

George Clooney’s humanitarian organization has donated $500,000 to a U.N. food aid agency to supply flights in Sudan’s Darfur region, the agency said Thursday.

The Rome-based World Food Program said the donation came from Not On Our Watch. The group was founded by Clooney and other actors including Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Don Cheadle to press concerns about Darfur.

The WFP warned earlier this week that a lack of funds would force an end to the flights ferrying urgently needed supplies to the violence-wracked region at the end of March.

“This is a critical time for the program. Without immediate additional funding, humanitarian aid in the region will be crippled,” Clooney said in a statement.

Clooney’s group has raised more than $9.3 million for Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and about 2.5 million people displaced in five years of fighting between African rebels and government troops allied with Arab militia known as janjaweed.

The WFP has fed as many as 3.2 million people in Darfur during the past year. The number of people in need could double during the upcoming May-October rainy season, the agency said.

“This contribution will make a difference to the millions of vulnerable women and children trapped there, and we hope it will inspire other donations,” said Josette Sheeran, the WFP’s executive director.