Pomp and circumstance with a dash of style marked the week-long celebrations of the International Day of UN Peacekeepers across Sudan.

A five-kilometre peace walk kicked off the celebrations in the Southern Sudanese capital of Juba on 29 May with musical accompaniment from the Southern Sudan Police Service band.

Participants waved blue UN flags as they made their way from the UNMIS compound near the city's airport to the Juba University campus. Hundreds of Juba residents lined the route to cheer on the peace walkers, whose numbers were swollen by many onlookers who spontaneously joined the procession.

The highlight of the day was a football match pitting members of the university community against the UNMIS Bangladesh Battalion squad. The hotly contested match drew hundreds of spectators and ended in a 1-1 draw.

In the national capital of Khartoum, peacekeepers organized a series of activities in the Al Rashad and Al Baraka camps for internally displaced persons. Children from the camps played a football game on 25 May, and camp residents exhibited handicrafts and performed traditional dances on the following day.

Outgoing UNMIS Force Commander Maj. Gen. Paban Thapa hoisted the UN flag at an official ceremony, in honor of peacekeepers who died on duty in 2009, that was held at mission headquarters on 28 May.

UNMIS representatives presented a new traffic police office and 14 public latrines that were financed by Quick Impact Project funds to county officials in the Western Equatoria State capital of Yambio. The UNMIS staff members also visited Yambio Prison and donated some food items.

In the Upper Nile State capital of Malakal, peacekeepers played a variety of games with orphans living in the city's SOS children's village that ranged from musical chairs to running and drawing competitions.

Over 60 primary and secondary school students in the Eastern Equatoria State capital of Torit attended a two-hour-long interactive lecture on the role of UN peacekeepers at the Dr. John Garang Memorial School. Human Rights and the Civil Affairs Division were among the UNMIS sections that made presentations during the lecture.

UNMIS medical personnel visited the Rumbek Civil Hospital in Lakes State on 25 May to treat patients and clean up the premises. Peacekeepers then went to the city's prison facility two days later to collect refuse and donate various food and non-food items.

The three days of events held in the four states comprising the mission's Sector II were tinged with sadness over the sudden death of a Chinese military contingent engineer on 27 May.

The Sector II commander Col. John Warioba expressed his condolences to his Chinese colleagues at a ceremony that took place on 29 May in the Western Bahr El-Ghazal State capital of Wau.