Hundreds of Zambians from civil society organizations marched through the capital Friday, urging the world's rich nations to act on promises to help African countries get out of poverty.

The march, coming ahead of the Group 8 club of industrial nations meeting in Britain next week, is part of a global call for action against poverty, debt and trade injustice demanded by poor nations.

The demonstrators, carrying placards and singing anti-slavery songs, marched along Cairo road in the city center to the freedom statue where speeches were made. One placard said "G-8 nations, you promise act now!"

"We are calling on rich nations to act on their promises so that we can move out of poverty. The rich nations should be told that debt is a form of slavery and should be fought the same way human slavery was fought," John Phiri from Global Justice Zambia told the demonstrators.

He said Africa will not meet the Millennium Development Goals ( MDGs) if rich nations do not open up markets and increase official development assistance to the continent.

Zambia National Civil Society Campaign Coordinator Henry Malumo told Xinhua civil society organizations have prepared a petition to be presented to embassies of rich nations in Zambia.

"We are optimistic that the rich nations will respond to our demands because there is a lot of pressure from around the world," he said.

Source: Xinhua