ANALYSIS-Darfur: Africa's latest neglected conflict

* U.S., UN focus on south Sudan's independence

* Fighting between Darfur rebels, government escalates

* US envoy says UNAMID has been too timid in Darfur

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 28 (Reuters) - An eight-year struggle in Sudan's barren, remote western Darfur region has joined the ranks of Africa's neglected conflicts as the world shifts its attention to southern Sudan's independence drive.

Confirmation appeared to come last Tuesday, when U.S. President Barack Obama gave his State of the Union address. He mentioned oil-rich south Sudan and its recent referendum on whether to secede from the Khartoum-led north and establish an independent state -- but not a word about Darfur.

U.S. officials officials deny that they are neglecting Darfur, where the United Nations believes that as many as 300,000 people died after mostly non-Arab rebels rose up against Khartoum in 2003, sparking a brutal counterinsurgency campaign by Sudan's army and Arab 'Janjaweed' militia.

But analysts and Darfur activists say the U.S. special envoy on Sudan, retired Air Force General Scott Gration, has largely ignored Darfur, where fighting between government and rebel forces has been escalating for months, while courting Khartoum with offers of incentives to let south Sudan secede.

This has not always been the case. For years Darfur got all the attention while the north-south conflict was ignored.