Beja situation described for Brits

In a United Kingdom charity headed by Baroness Caroline Cox, the January 2011 edition of their newsletter described the plight of the Beja on two pages. This was written before South Sudan separated. Here's just one paragraph.

The lack of political will [to care for the Beja] stems largely from the exclusion of the Beja from the political process. They hold no positions in the Khartoum government, and there is no Beja state governor. Lacking representatives in the organs of government, the Beja are ignored. Denied a legitimate means of expressing their discontent, a number of Beja were recruited to fight for the Eastern Front, an amalgamation of armed opposition groups including the Beja Congress. This has further turned the government against them, perceiving all Beja to be rebels (even if in fact only a minority have fought against government forces). A siege by government forces in the Red Sea State in 1997 resulted in 450 deaths – and when the government proceeded to ban the import of food and medicine, a further 2500 died.

Download the pdf edition, read page 10 and 11. Yes, this material is over a year old, but I just found it recently.