January 06, 2009	Tuesday	Muharram 08, 1430

BERLIN, Jan 5: Two childhood sweethearts of six and seven eloped from Hanover in northern Germany on new year’s eve, determined to tie the knot under the African sun, police said on Monday.

The pair identified as Mika and Anna-Lena “are very much in love and decided to get married in Africa where it is warm, taking with them as a witness Anna-Lena’s little sister, aged five”, police spokesman Holger Jureczko said.

The idea for the romantic trip began when Mika told the two girls about his recent holiday in Italy, while their families celebrated new year’s eve together. “From this, the children began to make plans for the future,”Jureczko said.

As the first dawn of 2009 broke, the trio started to put these plans into action, packing all the essentials for the journey, including “sunglasses, swimming trunks, a lilo, summer clothes and provisions”. While their parents slept, they left their house in the suburbs of Hanover, walked a kilometre (two-thirds of a mile) up the road to a tram stop from where they took a tram for the central station.

Waiting for a train to the airport, they aroused the attention of a guard who contacted police.

Two officers managed to convince the young lovers that they would struggle to get to Africa without money or a plane ticket.—AFP