FACTBOX-Conflicts remaining in Sudan despite peace

NAIROBI, May 26 (Reuters) – Sudan will likely remain torn by conflict despite a deal signed on Wednesday preparing for peace between the army and southern rebels in Africa’s biggest state.

The deal, sealed by the southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and the Khartoum government, clears the way for a comprehensive peace in the south to end a 21-year-old civil war.

But it does not apply to the following armed conflicts:

DARFUR A conflict has raged for more than a year in western Sudan between pro-government militias and rebels who say they have been marginalised, creating what the United Nations says is one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Two rebel groups launched a revolt in remote Darfur in February 2003 accusing Khartoum of neglecting the arid region and arming marauding Arab militia who loot and burn African villages to drive people off their land. Khartoum denies arming the Arab militia or “Janjaweed”, which it has branded outlaws.

The International Crisis Group think tank estimates around 30,000 people have died in the conflict, which has been described as ethnic cleansing. The United Nations says about one million have been displaced with 120,000 fleeing to Chad.

SHILLUK KINGDOM

Conflict has sprung up this year in the Shilluk Kingdom of Upper Nile region in eastern Sudan, described by one regional observer as “another Darfur”. At least 70,000 people have been driven from their homes by fighting in the past month between government forces and SPLA rebels.

Analysts say the SPLA will have to negotiate with a number of southern militias and tribal groups to entice them to support its rule. The SPLA says talks with these groups have started.

UGANDAN INSURGENCY

A 17-year-old civil war between Ugandan troops and Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels based in lawless areas of southern Sudan spreads instability threatening SPLA control of the south.

Khartoum says it has ceased the support it gave the LRA in the 1990s but analysts say the Islamist government still gives covert backing in retaliation for Uganda’s support for the SPLA.

Analysts say the threat posed by the conflict may have decreased a little since a Sudanese militia called the Equatoria Defence Force (EDF) merged with the SPLA earlier this year.

BEJA CONGRESS

An armed wing of the Beja Congress party emerged in eastern Sudan in the 1990s, accusing Khartoum of neglecting the poor area. Analysts say the rebels, from a Muslim Sufi order, are few and attacks have been confined to the Khartoum to Port Sudan highway. Darfur rebels say they have links with the group.