Led by African drummers, more than 200 marchers carried signs from Freedom Corner in the Hill District to Market Square yesterday. Each sign listed the name of a village in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Ignoring rain and the start of a Penguins playoff game, the participants were taking part in a rally to call attention to a civil war in the western region of the African nation that has killed as many as 400,000 civilians. Another 2.5 million people have been forced from their homes.

Many marchers wore T-shirts with the words "2,751 destroyed and damaged villages" printed on them. That number is based on U.S. government statistics on how many places have been affected by the war.

Their names include Miro, Jeta, Komba, Godoba, Aish Barra and Qamari.

"Think of those villages the way you think about communities around Pittsburgh," said speaker Esther Bush, president of the Urban League of Pittsburgh.

The afternoon event was sponsored by the Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition, with the assistance of the Thomas Merton Center and Global Solutions Pittsburgh. It was part of a nationwide effort to draw attention to conditions in Darfur and similar events have been held in many American cities.

Speaker after speaker emphasized three points:

• The necessity of passing legislation to require Pennsylvania's pension funds to sell off investments in any companies doing business with the Sudanese government. The state House passed such a measure 10 months ago, but it has failed to get Senate approval.

• The need to deploy a 26,000-member United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in the Darfur region. Only about 9,000 soldiers are on the ground now.

• The importance of encouraging China, the major buyer of Sudan's oil, to pressure the Sudanese government to protect its civilians.

The upcoming Beijing Olympics give President Bush extra leverage with the Chinese, Jerry Fowler told the crowd. Unless the Chinese government uses its influence to get more peacekeepers into the region, Mr. Bush should refuse to go to the opening ceremonies for the games, he said. Mr. Fowler is president of the national Save Darfur Coalition.

Violence in Darfur began in 2003 and has involved several rebel groups fighting the Sudanese military and a militia known as the Janjaweed. Unlike earlier violence between the predominantly Muslim north and the Christian south, the current dispute follows tribal or ethnic lines. Fighters on both sides are Muslims.

Participants at the rally included people from the region and other parts of Africa.

"This is very sad -- Muslim against Muslim ... and based on the color of skin," said Adrienne Ngoma of Friendship. She came to Pittsburgh five years ago from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the nation that borders Darfur to the west.

"The best thing is to get all the U.N. forces in place," said the Rev. Michael Yemba of Ambridge. He is an immigrant from the southern Sudan.

More information on the conflict is available on the Web site of the Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition, www.pittsburghdarfur.org.