|PIC1|The head of international Christian relief organisation Samaritan’s Purse, Franklin Graham, will travel to Sudan on Saturday to urge the country's leaders to build peace.

Mr Graham will be accompanied by leadership teams from Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, the ministry of his father, renowned evangelist Billy Graham, which he also now leads. The leadership teams will look for new ways to partner with the country's people.

Mr Graham and the teams will visit Samaritan's Purse relief projects in Sudan, where people continue to face hardship after many years of civil war.

They will also meet top government officials in Sudan with a message of peace. The meetings will build on previous visits in 2003 and 2007, when Mr Graham met President al-Bashir to address the concerns Sudanese Christians. Mr al-Bashir is expected to face an arrest warrant next week issued by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Mr Graham appealed to US President Barack Obama not to neglect the Sudan conflict in the face of the current economic crisis.

“This is a critical time for Sudan. In recent months, Government of Sudan attacks in Darfur have involved civilians,” said Mr Graham. “I urge President Obama not to let the economic crisis distract him from working with Sudan to achieve full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Setbacks now could have long-term consequences.”

Mr Graham and executives from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse also plan to travel to Juba to meet with Sudanese Vice President and President of the semi-autonomous southern Sudan, Salva Kiir.

The meeting comes just one month after Mr Kiir came to Samaritan’s Purse headquarters in Boone, North Carolina, to meet Mr Graham and express his appreciation for the organisation’s efforts to bring relief to the people of Sudan, where Samaritan's Purse has carried out humanitarian and peace-building work since 1993.

The Graham team will also meet US embassy officials and pastors in Khartoum and visit a camp for internally displaced people in Darfur.

In addition to re-establishing schools and agricultural programmes, Samaritan's Purse has also been involved in large scale food distribution and reconstructing churches.

Last week, Mr Graham was in Alaska touring remote villages with Governor Sarah Palin. Samaritan's Purse is providing food to indigenous families who are struggling to survive with an unusually harsh winter.