OpenSuSE has mod_rewrite installed, but it is not loaded by default. Check if mod_rewrite is actually loaded by default or not:

# grep "^APACHE_MODULES" /etc/sysconfig/apache2
APACHE_MODULES="actions alias auth_basic authn_file authz_host authz_groupfile authz_default authz_user autoindex cgi dir env expires include log_config mime negotiation setenvif ssl userdir php5"

(more…)