Fears of renewed war in Sudan's East

Khartoum - Renewed war is increasingly likely in Eastern Sudan, seven years after a peace agreement promised to address complaints of economic and political neglect, a report warned on Tuesday.

"Unless the East's marginalisation is adequately addressed, renewed war is a growing possibility," said the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG).

The 2006 Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement ended years of low-level insurgency in Sudan's East, which borders Eritrea and includes Red Sea, Kassala and Gedaref states.

Members of the Muslim-non-Arab Beja people, camel herders by tradition, fought alongside Free Lions rebels of the Rashaida tribe against what they said was marginalisation by the Arab-dominated Khartoum regime.

The peace deal is one of several agreements Khartoum has signed during the past eight years in an attempt to solve rebellions and conflicts across the country.

It promised power-sharing, funds for development, and rebel reintegration into Sudan's security forces or civilian life.

But many of the deal's core provisions have not been implemented and there has been no substantive "peace dividend" to most people in the East, ICG said.

It added that "social and economic conditions are gradually deteriorating, communal relations are fraying, and the prospects of preserving the fragile peace are fading fast."

Calls for resumption of armed opposition have been growing, ICG said, calling for a "comprehensive national mechanism" to address the root causes of Sudan's conflicts between the centre and outlying regions.

A decade-long rebellion continues in western Darfur, while insurgencies began two years ago in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.