Beja

Also known as: Bedawi; Bidhaawyeet speakers

Language family: Cushitic (Beja/Bedawiyet); Arabic widely spoken as a second language

A Cushitic-speaking people of the Red Sea Hills, traditionally organized into four main divisions — the Hadendowa, Amarar, Bisharin and Beni Amer. Though they adopted Islam through centuries of trade and intermarriage, the Beja retained their own language and a customary law known as salif. The Hadendowa became famous for their resistance to Anglo-Egyptian forces during the Mahdist War of the 1880s–90s. In the late 20th century the Beja Congress organized politically for the region's development, signing a peace agreement with the Sudanese government in 2006.