The nature of war was changing and civilians, especially children, were now the main targets, Graca Machel said in Johannesburg on Thursday.

Machel, companion to President Nelson Mandela, was addressing a hearing on children and youth as victims of political conflicts, held by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Machel said wars until recently had resulted in the deaths of mainly soldiers. Now, in a world where nothing seemed sacred, the target had switched to children and other civilians.

The targeting of children could be explained by the attackers' wish to destroy their enemies' national morale and to rob them of their future human resources and leaders.

Children were being brought directly into conflicts, being armed and expected to fight. Their brutalisation in this process would not bbably be violent for life.

Machel said rehabilitating people, especially children, brutalised by war was a big challenge, but she would not know where to begin. A debate on the issue was needed.

She said apartheid had divided people and disrupted their lives, and she appealed for the reconstruction of family life and the development of community spirit and a sense of national pride.

"We are all the sons and daughters of one nation," she said.