Do motorcycle taxis aggravate the Ebola crisis? | towns

SMotorcycle taxi drivers overloaded with pbadengers and goods are sneaking into traffic in Butembo town in eastern Congo. Motorcycles far exceed the number of four-wheeled vehicles on the dusty roads of the regional trade hub, especially in the city center, where freight drivers carry their way through crowded markets.

These "taxi-bikes", as they are called, are the cornerstone of life in Butembo's arteries. With local unions representing around 10,000 taxis-motorcycles, they also constitute a political force that has sometimes hampered efforts to contain the Ebola epidemic raging in the North Kivu and Libya provinces. 39 Ituri, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Without the motorcycle taxis, Butembo is on standstill, as was the case in May when an accident involving a motorcycle taxis and a suspected Ebola Ebola vehicle sparked clashes involving motorcycle drivers. taxi-motorcycles, armed militias and security forces. Nine people were killed in the violence. The Ebola response has been suspended for a fourth consecutive day due to general insecurity. The clash was just one of more than 200 violent attacks and incidents involving Ebola stakeholders so far this year, some involving motorcycle taxi drivers. The latest in the series of badaults that have injured or killed dozens of people who responded to the call is the badbadination by unknown attackers of two Congolese workers sensitized to the Ebola virus near Butembo . But with the epidemic declared as an international emergency last week by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the subsequent resignation of the country's health minister, the DRC must urgently address the response to the epidemic. 'epidemic.

• A crowded market in the city of Butembo. Efforts to stem the Ebola epidemic in eastern Congo – already the second most important in history – are going badly, as front-line health workers battling HIV / AIDS Increasing hostility, insecurity and mistrust

Eastern Congo is inundated with armed groups vying for local influence and control. In Ituri and North Kivu, community self-defense militias known as Mai Mai have been the source of numerous attacks against health workers. Mai Mai drivers and motorcyclists come from the same group of young men from each community. There is often overlap.

The attacks are motivated by a strong resistance to outside influence in a region that has long been experiencing ethnic killings. Many residents of this opposition stronghold blame ethnic violence on the central government, which prevented Ebola-stricken areas from voting in last year's presidential elections.

• Taxi and motorcycle drivers are waiting to transport the mourners to the funeral of 31-year-old Angela Masika, who died the day before this photo was taken in the city of Biakato, in the eastern part of the province. Ituri. The test results had not yet revealed whether Masika had died of the Ebola virus

The island Nande ethnic group dominates the commercial towns of Beni and Butmebo in the center of the home. Butembo is one of the few major trade centers in Congo where no Indian or Lebanese company is visible.

"Even I am Nande de Beni," said a taxi driver who called Adolphe. "But if I go to Butembo, they will know that I am not from there, just by the way I speak and they can not accept me."

The international Ebola response has brought money and convoys of gleaming 4×4 vehicles into this impoverished region, upsetting the local balance of economic power and exacerbating political rivalries. Misled by politicians and local leaders by spreading false rumors on the radio and on social networks, many people do not believe the Ebola virus is real. They echo the accusations that it would be a deadly ploy to play at their expense, while foreigners, including Congolese from other parts of the country, would enrich themselves. . Local health workers complained that Congolese nurses and doctors from other parts of the country are being paid $ 150 (£ 120) a month, while they can only earn $ 20, exacerbating existing resentment.

Many motorcycle taxi drivers believe in conspiracy theories about Ebola knowing that they are dangerously exposed to a virus transmitted by the type of close physical contact inevitable in overcrowded markets. With few cars in Butembo, most people rely on mototaxis for transportation. And when people get sick, they use motorbikes to take them to the hospital, which increases the risk of transmitting the virus. Taxi drivers carrying patients have succumbed to the Ebola virus in previous epidemics, but even if they do not get sick, they facilitate the circulation of people carrying the virus.

• Sarah Kavuo, 15, plays the trumpet in a churchyard in Beni, eastern DRC, with her sister Milka, 14 (second from right), Esther Kahindu, 16 ( right) and Nema Kavira, 16 years old.

In mid-July, a pastor who was traveling by road from Butembo became the first confirmed case of Ebola in Goma – an even bigger city with an international airport on the Rwandan border – fearing more and more more than the virus spreads abroad. He died shortly after. A precautionary measure implies that motorcycle taxi drivers do not share helmets.

Since the beginning of the epidemic in Congo last August, at least 2,500 confirmed Ebola cases have been confirmed and more than 1,655 deaths, although WHO has warned that a quarter of all cases may not be confirmed. not be detected. Two deadly cases of Ebola were confirmed last month in neighboring Uganda, where authorities have closed local markets to limit contamination. If the Ebola virus takes root in Goma or crosses another nearby border in the sprawling refugee camps of Southern Sudan, the consequences could be catastrophic.

During a recent visit to the perched village of Mabuku, about 25 km north of Butembo, Dr. Deby Mukendi, a Congolese epidemiologist working for the WHO, was tracking seven cases of Ebola in the village. , including three deaths and 170 people directly in contact with those who died. Five soldiers from the Congolese army escorted Mukendi and his two colleagues. While they were preparing to leave a health clinic, two mototaxis enlarged the driveway and transported half a dozen young people with AK-47s perched on their hips. The bikes stopped; Mai Mai militia fighters dismounted, upgraded their weapons and dispersed around the Ebola teams. Mukendi took a step forward and headed for one of the unarmed militia members.

"Hello Commander"He said, offering the bump fist that replaced the handshake in the midst of the outbreak." The commander returned the salute.

"Welcome," he says in Swahili.

Although the Mai Mai have been the source of numerous attacks on health workers, this group has granted access to Mukendi after tense negotiations. He had arrived two weeks earlier with 12 lightly armed soldiers and 60 heavily armed Mai Mai fighters quickly surrounded them.

"The soldiers were very nervous," said Mukendi. "They were outnumbered and it's not their pitch. You will not find any state infrastructure here, not even the Congolese flag. This area is fully controlled by the local population and the Mai Mai. The members of our team were terrified and wanted to turn around. This is the situation we are facing here. The members of the response are still under great pressure and effort due to insecurity. "

Mukendi negotiated with Mai Mai's commanders, who eventually allowed his team to work.

"They used to oppose the answer, but because of the awareness campaign we're doing, they've accepted us," Mukendi said. "The Mai Mai believe that Ebola is real. They saw it. "

All words and photographs of Finbarr O'Reilly

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