KHARTOUM: Noureddine Jaber, a musician with a unique part-guitar, part-tamboura instrument, is giving voice to Sudan’s long-marginalized eastern communities through a new album.
Hailing from the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, Jaber belongs to the Beja people, a group of nomadic herders and breeders with unique languages, culture, food and music.
They have borne the weight of disenfranchisement, especially under President Omar Bashir who was ousted in 2019.
But the title of his first album, due out later in June, conveys a different message: “Beja Power.”

CAIRO: Yemen’s warring parties resumed talks Sunday on reopening roads in Taiz and other provinces, the United Nations said, after they agreed to renew a nationwide cease-fire.
The UN mission to Yemen said delegations from the internationally recognized government and the Iran-backed Houthis began their second round of direct discussion in the Jordanian capital of Amman.
The mission did not provide further details.

JEDDAH:  At least 19 civilians, including three children, have been killed in Yemen over the past two months, despite a nationwide cease- fire, a UN official has said.

The truce was the first tangible ebb in fighting in the past six years of the conflict. On Thursday, Yemen’s warring parties decided to renew the truce for another two months.

GENEVA: An eighth round of talks on a new constitution for Syria has concluded with rival parties having made very little headway, the UN mediator said.
The Syrian Constitutional Committee was created in September 2019 and first convened a month later.
The tentative negotiations are aimed at rewriting the war-torn country’s constitution. It is hoped the talks could pave the way toward a broader political process.

LONDON: Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Saturday discussed the situation in the Palestinian territories with French President Emmanuel Macron, where he reiterated the need “to end unilateral Israeli actions that undermine peace prospects.”
Speaking during a phone call, the two sides also held talks on ways to expand bilateral cooperation, especially in areas related to food security, and regional development, the kingdom’s state news agency Petra reported.