Organized protests took place around the world Sunday to mark the fourth anniversary of the deadly conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.
Demonstrators in dozens of cities chanted slogans calling for world leaders to take action to stop the bloodshed. Organizers said protesters carried 10,000 hourglasses filled with fake blood to symbolize time is running out to save lives in the war-ravaged region of western Sudan.
The protests were organized by "The Globe for Darfur," an international network of dozens of organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The coalition is calling for the deployment of an international peacekeeping force to stop the killings.
Darfur rebels have been fighting Sudan's government and pro-government Janjaweed militias since 2003. The violence in the region has killed an estimated 200,000 people, and displaced more than two million others from their homes.
An African Union peacekeeping force of 7,000 has not been able to stop the violence. Sudan has refused to allow deployment of a larger U.N. peacekeeping force, despite strong pressure from Britain, the United States, and the United Nations.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP.
