Libyans voted on Saturday in their first election in more than 40 years.

Heavy rains and a ceaseless stream of the hungry and sick fleeing a contested border area are creating an epidemiological disaster, said Doctors Without Borders.

Many Libyans still hope that the election of a new national congress will offer a more peaceful way to resolve differences.

In a third week of protest against the government, the demonstrations in greater Khartoum and other Sudanese cities have remained small but show signs of gathering momentum.

Antigovernment protesters in and around Khartoum, the capital, and in other cities clashed with riot police officers on Friday as demonstrations stretched into a third week.

With elections scheduled for Saturday, and a weak interim government, those divisions between Libya’s regions and tribes have been magnified, threatening to tear the nation apart as it struggles to build a unified national identity.