In short, the Islamist regime has manipulated ethnic, racial, and economictensions, as part of a strategic drive to commandeer the country's oil wealth.The war has claimed about two million lives, mostly in the south -- many bystarvation, when government forces prevented humanitarian agencies from gainingaccess to camps. Another four million Sudanese remain homeless. The regimeoriginally sought to impose shariah, or Islamic, law on the predominantlyChristian and animist South. Khartoum dropped this demand, however, under termsof the Comprehensive Peace Treaty signed last January. The South was to beallowed to operate under its own civil law, which included rights for women; andin six years, southerners could choose by plebiscite whether to separate orremain part of a unified Sudan. The all-important oil revenues would be dividedbetween Khartoum and the SPLA-held territory. Under a power-sharing agreement,SPLA commander John Garang would be installed as vice president of Sudan,alongside President Omar al-Bashir.