DR Congo, Syria, Bolivia

Today's three stories you should know.

DR Congo

A draft peace deal to end fighting between the DR Congo government and the M23 armed group has been shared with both parties, a Qatari official told AFP. Qatar hosted talks between the two sides in July at which they signed a declaration of principles with the aim of inking a peace agreement on August 18. The Qatari official told AFP that the deadline had not been met but both parties had said they wanted to continue the talks. The Congolese army has been locked in a battle with the Rwanda-backed M23 group since 2021. Civilians have been massacred and more than one million forced from their homes.

More from AFP via France 24 here.

Syria

Members of Syria’s Druze minority have held mass protests calling for self-determination, the first time such a demand has been made. Demonstrations erupted in the southern city of Sweida and were the biggest since an outbreak of violence in July. A U.N. report last week said that more than 1,400 people were killed, the majority of them Druze, most of them civilians, and many of them in extrajudicial executions by government militias. The Druze, whose religion is an offshoot of Islam, are a minority in Syria. The country has grappled with ethnic divisions since former leader Bashar al-Assad was toppled last year.

More from AP here.

Bolivia

Seismic shift in Bolivia with the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS) on track for its worst presidential election result for a generation, ending two decades of leftist rule. MAS candidate Eduardo del Castillo secured just 3.16 percent of the vote in initial results released by the electoral tribunal. The vote will likely now go to an October runoff between centrist senator Rodrigo Paz on 32.18% and conservative former president Jorge Quiroga of the Alianza coalition in second on 26.8%, with more than 95 percent of ballots counted. Paz's thumping performance surprised political analysts. Opinion polls had him in third place.

More from the Guardian here.