Children’s rally urges Sudan’s warring parties to end fighting

By MOHAMED OSMAN Associated Press Writer

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Mar 08, 2004 (AP) — Nearly 1,500 children from schools around the country gathered in front of Sudan’s Republican Palace Monday to call for an end to a civil war that has raged for more than 20 years and killed some 2 million people.

The children held hands and lit 29 torches, each representing one of Sudan’s 26 states, and one each for Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir, Southern leader Col. John Garang and Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, head of an official delegation for ongoing peace talks in Naivasha, Kenya.

The children carried banners reading, “no to war,” and “In peace we grow.”

“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 James Gurgal Kuwaj, 13. “I think I will be happy if peace comes, my family as well,” he said.

Kuwaj is one of five children, including two from southern Sudan, who will fly to Naivasha to hand a petition to the leaders of the negotiation teams.

Monday’s rally was organized by Sudanese Peace and Dignity and other independent charities, which will pay for the children’s visit to Kenya.

Sudan’s civil was broke out in 1983, when the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) took up arms against the Arab and Muslim-dominated northern government, fighting for a greater share of the country’s wealth and the rights of largely animist and Christian southerners. The conflict has killed roughly 2 million people, mainly through war-induced famine.

The current round of peace talks, which have made erratic progress during their 19 months, started on February 17. It is focused on the status of three disputed areas, Abyei, the Nuba Mountains area and Southern Blue Nile region, as well as the sharing of political and administrative power.