Sudan
A landslide has wiped out an entire village in Sudan’s western Darfur region, killing an estimated 1,000 people, according to the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), which controls the area. The group said the village of Tarasin in the Marra Mountains was “completely leveled to the ground” after days of heavy rainfall, leaving only one survivor. The ruling Sovereign Council in Khartoum confirmed “hundreds” of deaths and said it was mobilizing support, though access to the remote mountain region is difficult. The disaster comes as Sudan’s war shows no sign of ending, with famine already declared in parts of Darfur and fighting escalating between the army and the RSF group.
More from Al Jazeera here.
Afghanistan
A second earthquake has hit southeastern Afghanistan just two days after a 6.0-magnitude quake killed more than 1,400 people. The new 5.5-magnitude quake triggered landslides and forced rescuers to down tools as roads were cut off. Though the ruling Taliban has appealed for help, aid has been slow to arrive. The country is already struggling with a faltering economy, aid cuts from Western nations, and the return of a huge number of refugees, forced out of neighboring countries. "This is now a race against time to save lives – to get injured people out of remote villages cut off by massive rock falls and to get clean water, food, and shelter in," Samira Sayed Rahman of the Save the Children aid group said, appealing to the international community to release emergency funds.
More from Reuters here.
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso’s unelected transitional parliament has passed a law banning homosexuality with penalties of between two to five years, the state broadcaster reported. The law, approved earlier by the military junta of Ibrahim Traoré, was aimed at protecting “marriage and family values,” officials said. Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala described same-sex relations as “bizarre behavior.” Burkina Faso is the latest in a series of African countries to pass anti-gay legislation, though others, including South Africa, Botswana and Angola, have decriminalized homosexuality or introduced anti-discrimination measures.
More from Africa News and AP here.