A YOUNG boy facing deportation to the Democratic Republic of Congo is taking his fight to stay in Manchester to the government.

Nine-year-old Didsbury Primary pupil Tony Lola will present a petition to Parliament calling for the Home Office to stop him being sent back to the African country he fled.

He'll be joined by campaigners who have taken up his cause, including his headteacher and vicar of the local church.

Tony spent several months in prison in the DRC because of his parents' political activities.

He joined his mother Mireille in Britain in 2005 - three years after she escaped. They now live in Burnage and have applied to the Home Office for permission to stay.

Immigration officials believe their story but say the central African state is now generally safe for political activists.

War

The DRC was at the centre of a war involving seven foreign armies between 1998 and 2003. Estimates of the death toll range from 3m to 5m.

The country is now home to the UN's largest peace-keeping force, but the threat of civil war persists and international observers are worried about levels of rape and violence.

Tony's classmates have all written letters begging for him to be allowed to stay - supporters say many have been reduced to tears over their friend's plight and have launched their own campaign.

News that the Home Office was preparing papers for the Lola family to be removed from Britain triggered off massive shock among the school, church and community.

Sweatshirts and wristbands have been sold to raise money for a fighting fund for the family.

Didsbury Primary headteacher Matt Whitehead and Rev Nick Bundock, vicar of neighbouring St James' and Emmanuel Church, will join Tony on the delegation to London.

Letters

They will call at the offices of Minister for Children, Schools and Families Ed Balls to deliver the letters from the school.

One campaigning parent Ruth Wilson said: "When Tony first arrived in England he suffered from really bad headaches, understandably caused by the stress of his ordeal in the Congo.

"Since all this kicked off and he was told he had to go back the headaches have returned. We are all really worried about him."

Campaigners say that while worried about his family's future, Tony is excited about the trip to London.

Ruth Wilson said: "He was walking around Didsbury and pointed at one of the big properties along the road and asked if the Houses of Parliament were a big as that one.

"He had to be told that he was in for one big surprise."