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From Our Own Correspondent

A tribal gathering in Yemen

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.41.3K Ratings

🗓️ 18 February 2021

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We visit the tribesmen of Yemen, which has for years been wracked by civil war. The conflict morphed into a proxy war in 2015 after a coalition, led by Saudi Arabia launched attacks on Iranian-backed Houthi Muslim rebels. And as the conflict has raged on, Yemeni civilians face economic hardship and starvation. Some of the country’s tribespeople have stepped up to play the role of peacemaker to try to restore order. Leila Molana -Allen heard about some of the challenges they face when she was a guest at a tribal gathering in the south of the country. For a president to undergo an impeachment process was until recently a somewhat rareified event, but former president Donald Trump has now undergone not one, but two sets of proceedings against him. The latest one examined his role in the storming of the Capitol building on January 6th. In the end, the Senate voted to acquit Donald Trump – and as Anthony Zurcher found, the era of Trump’s influence is by no means a closed chapter for Republicans. Kosovo has been marking the 13th anniversary of its independence from Serbia. And voters have been ringing the changes, facing temperatures of minus 10 degrees Celsius and snow to cast their ballots – awarding a landslide victory for the opposition Self Determination party in last Sunday’s parliamentary election. Guy Delauney reports. Cuba is suffering. Economically the country is in its worst moment since the “Special Period”, a decade of severe austerity and shortages after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Breadlines are once again a common sight across the island. The hard times have prompted the government to undertake long-promised radical economic reforms. As Will Grant reports, the changes mean that even a low-key celebration of a special occasion can be tricky.

Presenter: Kate Adie Producer: Serena Tarling

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts

0:05.4

Today it appears there is life after impeachment, with Donald Trump acquitted by the vote in

0:11.2

the Senate.

0:12.2

We look at where that leaves his party, the Republicans and the former president himself.

0:18.5

In Kosovo, the self-determination party has emerged victorious from the elections.

0:25.0

What might this mean for the country's future and its relationship with Albania?

0:30.6

Valentine's Day has come and gone, and a table for two in the favourite restaurant was remarkably

0:36.7

lacking for most.

0:38.8

So we hear how our correspondent in Cuba tried to mark the occasion by buying a cake, a

0:45.2

simple act which threw up the challenge presented by the country's new economic reforms.

0:54.3

A fragmented country in all senses of the word, politically, socially and at war.

1:00.8

Years of civil war morphed five years ago into a conflict involving proxy foreign players

1:06.2

led by Saudi Arabia, who launched attacks on the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

1:12.0

The country's population has suffered from military action, economic hardship and starvation.

1:19.0

Among the efforts being made to resolve this situation, some of the tribe's people are

1:23.9

attempting to play the role of peacemaker, and Leyla Malana Allen has been in the south

1:30.2

of the country to hear the challenges they face.

1:34.7

Driving out of attack feels like a step into the unknown.

1:38.4

The wide roads and low-stone buildings start to fall away, seemingly piece by piece.

1:43.7

They're Houth finished, because the capital of Yemen's southern Shabbar governorate is

1:47.9

in the midst of a construction boom.

1:50.6

It looks almost as if the sand is fighting back, threatening to eclipse these little

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