JUBA, South Sudan: The conflict in Sudan has left a trail of devastation, with thousands of lives lost and the country’s stability hanging by a thread. Various international actors have attempted to mediate and find a peaceful solution, but with limited success.

In light of these challenges, African regional bodies have emerged as potential interlocutors capable of fostering peace. But opinion is divided among analysts over the suitability of these institutions and their likelihood of success.

RAMALLAH: Residents of four Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank are living in fear as dozens of Israeli settlers return to rebuild a settlement that was evacuated in 2005.
Settlers are clearing land, setting up mobile caravans and building a religious school in Homesh, an outpost on the road connecting the governorates of Nablus and Jenin.
To help the settlers, the Israeli army has stepped up mobile and foot patrols, placed cement blocks on the main road, and built military observation towers.

AL-MUKALLA: Yemeni government and Houthi delegations met in Amman on Saturday for the second day of a new round of prisoner swap talks, raising hopes for the release of hundreds of captives.
The discussions, sponsored by the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross, began on Friday and are likely to focus on securing an agreement to exchange hundreds of inmates in the coming weeks.

BEIRUT: Interpol has issued an international warrant for a Lebanese man suspected of trafficking stolen antiquities, weeks after he was questioned in Lebanon, judicial officials said Friday.
The Red Notice was unsealed 10 months after a criminal court in New York issued an arrest warrant for Georges Lotfi, 82, charging him with criminal possession of stolen property as well as possessing looted artifacts.

NEW YORK: The UN on Friday warned that the situation in Darfur province is “rapidly spiraling into a humanitarian calamity,” with intercommunal violence that has left hundreds dead in the town of El Geneina town alone threatening to revive ethnic tensions that stoked a two-decade war.

Martin Griffiths, the under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, has urged warring parties to allow safe and voluntary passage for those who want to flee, as well as unhindered humanitarian aid delivery for the 9 million people in the area who need it.