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A wave of attacks by rebels and militias against health officials fighting the latest Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo is causing an upsurge in reported cases as the response to the deadly disease s & # 39; weakens.
The epidemic reported almost three months ago resulted in 157 deaths, of which 122 confirmed as cases of Ebola. The total number of probable and confirmed cases has now reached 244, of which 63 are recovering from an infection.
The epidemic is concentrated in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri, ravaged by armed rebellion and ethnic murders since the two civil wars of the late 1990s.
In Butembo town, the militia on Saturday killed two members of the Congolese army medical unit. On the same day, 11 civilians and one soldier were killed in the city of Beni, where dozens of people contracted the virus.
The rebels also attacked the positions of the Congolese army and abducted Tuesday a dozen children aged 5 to 10 years. Five more people died in the attack near Goma, the capital of North Kivu.
The new violence comes as international health officials have warned that the epidemic could worsen considerably unless the response to the deadly virus intensifies.
We do not know who led the recent attacks. The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamist group based in Uganda but active in eastern DRC, have clashed with Congolese troops in the city of Beni in recent weeks.
The Mayi-Mayi militia, which includes a number of armed groups that were originally formed to resist Rwandan invasions in the 1990s, is also present in the region.
"Some rebel groups are resorting to surprise attacks while others are simultaneously attacking different cities to overload the army's response," said Capt Mak Hazukay, spokesman for the Congolese army in North Kivu. He added that the army was doing everything possible to prevent further attacks against civilians.
"We believe that the attackers are part of a new rebel movement that we have not yet identified," said Jules Tshikudi, spokesman for the army in Ituri Province. .
The army's inability to prevent attacks sparked anger and suspicion.
"How can you fight a group of rebels for weeks without knowing who they are?" Said Guy Mirimo, a Djugu resident in Ituri. "This is not normal in a country with an operational intelligence service."
The number of Ebola cases has accelerated in the past two weeks. Half of them are in Beni and the surrounding area, where the response was disrupted last month by a period of official mourning following attacks by armed groups.
"At the present time, the epidemic is active in Beni and Butembo and the reaction team concentrates there. We are starting to see results, especially with regard to the proliferation of alerts and cases, "Dr Bathé Ndjoloko, coordinator of the response to the Beni epidemic, told the Guardian.
More than 11,000 people who have been in contact with an infected person have been found, and about 5,000 are still under surveillance. More than 20,000 people have been vaccinated so far.
Several regions that have experienced a significant number of cases of the disease are now a minor threat thanks to the intensive efforts of health officials and NGOs.
Rebel attacks have repeatedly disrupted treatment, burials, and vaccination programs in recent weeks, but have also increased government suspicion.
"The people's trust in the government is in crisis and this has an impact on our work … Whenever there is a conflict, all the work we have done to engage the local community is wiped out, and without that we can not beat Ebola, "said Ndjokolo.
On Tuesday, youths burned tires during a protest following the killing of a civilian by suspected Afghan Defense Forces fighters near the town of Oisha.
After the violence on Saturday, demonstrations took place on Sunday morning in Beni, while the local population carried the bodies of three of the victims in the streets.
Law student Guillaume Saliboko said residents of the city had erected roadblocks in Beni's main street to publicize their anger.
"We can not understand how the ADF rebels can kill us every time downtown," he added.
The town hall and a post office were targeted.
Analysts attribute the resurgence of violence to intensified instability brought on by competition between political actors in eastern DRC ahead of the upcoming December elections.
Beni Mayor Nyonyi Masumbuko Bwanakawa said members of the community were at risk by refusing to be vaccinated.
"The fight against the Ebola virus is a community responsibility, but some people are opposed to the advice of health officials, who make the rate of spread of the disease high," he said. at the Guardian.
The Ministry of Health said that in Butembo, a group of 22 men had dug up the body of an Ebola victim to make sure the health workers had removed the organs from the body. body, thus bringing into contact the body fluids of the victim. They all agreed to be vaccinated Sunday, the ministry said.
Last month, WHO announced that the epidemic would last several months and could spread to Uganda or Rwanda.
Both were well prepared for a quick response, officials said, but neither had approved the vaccine currently used in the DRC.
The largest recorded Ebola outbreak killed around 11,300 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone between 2014 and 2016. The disease was first observed near the northern Ebola River in the DRC in the 1990s. 1970.
Other reports by Fiston Mahamba, Goma and Ignatius Ssuuna, Kigali
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