Sudan, Bolivia, DR Congo

Today's three stories you should know.

Sudan

Civilians in Sudan’s besieged el-Fasher have resorted to digging bunkers to protect themselves from drone and artillery attacks as the situation in the city deteriorates. El-Fasher has been encircled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group for 18 months and the more than 250,000 people who remain are living in famine-like conditions. The city is the last stronghold in the Darfur region of Sudan’s army, which has been at war with the RSF for more than two and a half years. Reuters, citing residents, reported that displacement shelters, clinics, mosques and schools have been attacked and that people are burying the dead at night for fear of being targeted by drones. Should the RSF capture el-Fasher, it may declare a rival government to that based in Khartoum.

More from Reuters here.

Bolivia

Centrist Rodrigo Paz has won Bolivia’s presidential run-off, upending two decades of leftist rule. Paz, a senator from the Christian Democratic Party, won 54.5% of the vote, defeating conservative Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga. Bolivia’s Movement to Socialism, or MAS, founded by three-term president Evo Morales, had been in power almost continuously since 2006, but was decimated at the polls. Paz, the third member of his extended family to be president, has promised decentralization, lower taxes and fiscal discipline while maintaining social programs, but some economists have cast doubt on his ability to achieve that.

More from AP here.

DR Congo

The last Ebola patient in Democratic Republic of Congo’s latest outbreak has been discharged, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), with no new cases reported since Sept. 25. The discharge sets in motion a 42-day countdown after which, if no new cases are discovered, the outbreak will be declared officially over. Forty-three people died of the illness in Kasai province, while 19 recovered. “The recovery of the last patient just six weeks after the outbreak was declared is a remarkable achievement,” Dr. Mohamed Janabi, WHO regional director for Africa, said in a statement.

More from WHO here.