Sudan prisoner release opens way for eastern talks

KHARTOUM, May 22 (Reuters) Sudan has released three members of the east's main political party, a key opposition demand before peace talks can be held in neighbouring Eritrea to end the simmering revolt, a party official said today.

''The three who were arrested about two months ago in Kassala were released yesterday,'' said Abdullah Moussa Abdullah, general-secretary of the Opposition Beja Congress Party in Port Sudan.

He added they were the last of the political prisoners being held in the east, where emergency law is still in place.

Abdullah himself was arrested and detained last year for many months after police opened fire on a peaceful march in Port Sudan, killing more than a dozen people.

The political Beja Congress Party, active within Sudan, is linked to the military Beja Congress rebel group, which controls an area of the east called Hamesh Koreb along the border with Eritrea.

Eastern rebels share the complaints of their counterparts in Darfur in the west and in southern Sudan that Khartoum fails to develop the peripheral regions while exploiting their natural resources.

The drought-stricken east has some of the highest malnutrition rates in the country, yet is home to Sudan's largest gold mine, its main port and major oil pipeline. The main eastern tribe is the Beja.

Abdullah said the prisoner release opened the door for peace talks to end the low-intensity conflict in the east. Those talks are to be held in the Eritrean capital Asmara, as relations between Sudan and its eastern neighbour have warmed.

Eritrea over the past decade has hosted Sudanese armed and political opposition and Sudan had accused them of arming and supporting both eastern and Darfur rebel groups.

Sudanese papers today said talks were to begin by the end of May but Abdullah could not confirm a start date. Previous deadlines for talks to begin have passed without progress.

REUTERS PG RN1514