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Hundreds of Sudanese schoolchildren have marched
to the presidential palace in the capital Khartoum to demand an end to the
21-year civil war.
The children, from around the country, held hands and lit torches. In an
appeal for peace the children said the war was depriving them of "milk, food
and medical treatment".
The organisers - Sudan Peace and Dignity - plan to fly five children to
Kenya, where peace talks are taking place, to hand over the appeal.
"In peace we grow, no to war!" chanted the children, aged from seven to 14.
They carried banners and lit 29 torches, each representing one of Sudan's
states and for those negotiating peace at the Kenya talks.
"I have come all the way from Rabakuna in the south just to express my
support for peace. With peace we can stop the killing," said 13-year-old
James Gurgal Kuwaj.
"I think I will be happy if peace comes, my family as well."
Kuwaj will be one of the five children flown - by the non-governmental
organisation Sudan Peace and Dignity - to Kenya to hand over an appeal to
the warring factions.
"We appeal to you, in the name of the children of Sudan: war has deprived us
of milk, food and medical treatment," it reads.
The current round of peace talks - between the government and the rebel
Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) - began on 17 February.
The civil war erupted in 1983 between the mainly Christian and animist south
and the Arab and Muslim-dominated north.
It is Africa's oldest armed conflict, and has claimed at least 1.5 million
lives.
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