In brief: Liberia sees another death from Ebola

MONROVIA, Liberia – The corpse of a 17-year-old boy has tested positive for Ebola in Liberia, but no other cases have been reported, the country’s deputy health minister said late Monday.

Tolbert Nyenswah, who also is head of the country’s Ebola response, told the Associated Press the teenager died June 24 in Nedowein, a town close to the country’s international airport, and was given a safe burial the next day.

Liberia had been the country hardest hit by last year’s Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The World Health Organization declared Liberia to be Ebola-free May 9 after the country went 42 days without reporting a case.

“We have said over and over again there was possibility that there could be a resurgence of the virus in Liberia,” Nyenswah said. “But our surveillance teams, our capacity is very strong.”

The deadly virus is hanging on stubbornly in Guinea, where the Ebola outbreak was first reported in March 2014, and in Sierra Leone.

It was not known how the 17-year-old contracted Ebola.

Burundi elections held despite boycott

BUJUMBURA, Burundi – Burundians voted Monday in parliamentary elections marked by an opposition boycott and the threat of violence in the capital.

The polls closed at 5 p.m. local time and “the elections went well,” said Prospere Ntahorwamiye, a spokesman for the electoral commission. He said counting would start immediately and the results would probably be announced today.

There was heavy security across the city.

In the Musaga neighborhood, which has seen violent protests against President Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term, few civilians were seen at the polls as mostly police and soldiers lined up to vote. No one was injured when a grenade exploded in the middle of the main road in Musaga, said witness Pacifique Irabona.

About 3.8 million people had been expected to vote, according to the electoral commission, but it appears a boycott by 17 opposition groups kept the turnout low.

U.N. peacekeepers will remain in Sudan

UNITED NATIONS – The Security Council on Monday unanimously approved a one-year extension of the joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Sudan’s western Darfur region where conflict is intensifying, rejecting the Sudanese government’s demand that the troops leave. A resolution keeps the size of the force the same.