Rebels strike in Ebola country

Attack in Congo stalls fight against outbreak

JOHANNESBURG — Congolese rebels killed 15 civilians and abducted a dozen children in an attack at the centre of the latest deadly Ebola outbreak, Congo’s military said Sunday, as the violence again forced the suspension of crucial virus containment efforts.

“It will be very hard to stop the outbreak if this violence continues,” the World Health Organization’s emergencies chief, Peter Salama, said, while WHO’s director-general condemned the attack. It was “difficult to say how long” work would be affected, a WHO regional official told The Associated Press.

Allied Democratic Forces rebels attacked Congolese army positions and several neighbourhoods of Beni on Saturday and into Sunday, Capt. Mak Hazukay Mongha told the AP. The U.N. peacekeeping mission said its troops exchanged fire with rebels in Beni’s Mayangose area.

Angry over the killings, residents carried four of the bodies to the town hall, where police dispersed them with tear gas. Vehicles of aid organizations and the peacekeeping mission were pelted with stones, the U.N.-backed Radio Okapi reported.

Hundreds killed

The ADF rebels have killed hundreds of civilians in recent years and are just one of several militias active in Congo’s far northeast.

Last month, Ebola containment efforts were suspended for days in Beni after a deadly attack, complicating work to track suspected contacts of infected people. Since then, many of the new confirmed Ebola cases have been reported in Beni and the rate of new cases overall has more than doubled, alarming aid groups.

Health efforts in recent weeks had been starting to show results, and this new attack “will bring us back,” Dr. Michel Yao, the WHO incident manager for Ebola in North Kivu province, told the AP. Colleagues’ work in Beni was suspended on Sunday as residents protested and “a few of our cars were broken,” he said.

“Tomorrow, we don’t know yet,” Yao said, noting that the day after an attack is usually for burials and can be very tense. “We understand. We are sympathetic. It’s not easy to lose relatives. At the same time, it could affect the (outbreak) response.”

The overnight attack came after two medical agents with the Congolese army were shot dead by another rebel group — the first time health workers have been killed in this outbreak.