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In a statement issued on Friday, WHO said unless the targeting of response activities was ended it was “unlikely” the virus would “remain successfully contained” in North Kivu and Ituri, which combined, border Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan.
The current outbreak is the second worst in recorded history and has killed 1 105 people so far, with a volatile security situation in the region and widespread community distrust complicating efforts to end the nine-month-old epidemic. Earlier this week, fighters from the armed Mai-Mai rebel group attacked a treatment centre in the town of Butembo at the epicentre of the crisis.
The assault came after a burial team was “violently attacked” on May 3 after they interred an Ebola victim in the town of Katwa, east of Butembo, WHO said, adding it was forced to halt response activities in Butembo and surrounding areas for five days due to the insecurity.
“The ongoing violent attacks sow fear, perpetuate mistrust, and further compound the multitude of challenges already faced by frontline health care workers,” the organisation said.
Eastern DRC has witnessed decades of violence, with scores of armed groups operating throughout the region, which has historically been neglected by the central government in Kinshasa. In addition to the risks posed to health workers by armed groups active in the area, there has also been widespread community mistrust over the Ebola outbreak, with segments of the local population believing it was fabricated for the financial gain of business-owning local elites or to further destabilise the area. “The security challenges are two-fold: Armed groups that have been present in the region for decades, and community hostility, which has now morphed from targeting facilities to targeting response workers,” said Whitney Elmer, DRC director for US-based NGO Mercy Corps, in a statement. – AFP
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