Rebel Attacks in Eastern Congo Kill 30, Hamper Ebola Response

Rebel attacks around a town at the epicenter of an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo have killed more than 30 people in recent days, while disrupting the response to the disease.

At least 10 people were massacred in raids on three villages near the city of Beni, in North Kivu province, early Wednesday. The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a militia linked to the Islamic State group, are accused of carrying out the attacks on the villages of Matété, Mamuli and Kitoho in eastern Congo.

Isaac Kavalami, a local community leader, said: 'We have provisionally recorded around 10 deaths. Motorcycles and houses were torched by the ADF rebels. They also abducted civilians; the number is not yet known.'

Just before midnight on Saturday, rebels entered Beni, which has been under military administration since 2021. Many people were beheaded and shot in the assault, which caused widespread panic, driving hundreds to flee their homes into the bush. More than 20 people, including men, women and children, were reported dead, and dozens are missing, according to witnesses.

Mumbere Sivya, a resident of the Ngandi district in Beni, recounted: 'As we were getting ready to sleep, we heard cries for help. It was an attack by the ADF. We panicked and ran from our homes to save our lives. Unfortunately, in the morning we learned that our neighbors had been decapitated.'

The ADF has intensified attacks against civilians and the Congolese military in the Beni area. Civil society organizations say about 10,000 civilians have been killed by the armed group since 2014. The ADF, a loose network of rebels and bandits, is also accused of atrocities in neighboring Uganda, according to its government.

The military governor of North Kivu said in a statement Tuesday that three confirmed Ebola patients had fled treatment centers in Beni after the Saturday attacks. The raids and community fear have complicated efforts to contain the 17th Ebola outbreak in Congo since the virus was first identified in 1976.

'Ebola kills, but not by beheading. We are losing loved ones to ADF brutality. That is a bitter pill to swallow,' said Albert Lusenge, a civil society activist in Beni who lost 20 relatives in ADF attacks. In his view, it will be hard to persuade people to support the fight against Ebola when they are already devastated by ADF activities.

Other community leaders noted that those fleeing violence increase the risk of infection. 'The disease can spread from one community to another,' said Lusenge. 'We saw that after the Ngandi attack, residents fled. During flight, it is hard to enforce controls. If anyone among them is carrying the Ebola virus, it is very serious.'

Large-scale government campaigns by the Congolese army from 2005 to 2014 failed to eliminate the ADF. Another offensive against the militia began in 2021, with the Congolese and Ugandan armies still jointly hunting ADF fighters in North Kivu and Ituri. According to Reagan Miviri, a researcher at Ebuteli, a Congo-based think tank, these campaigns have made civilians a target.

'The killing of civilians serves as a military deterrent because every time these terrorists are attacked deep in their territory, they retaliate by slaughtering civilians. This may be a way to force the military operations against them to stop. They move in small groups, are difficult to spot in operations sometimes conducted from the air. Moreover, the group operates in dense forest and can easily avoid army surveillance. We tend to see that the military operations between the Congolese and Ugandan armies mainly push the ADF away from the Ugandan border. Unfortunately, as long as these operations continue, civilians are killed,' said Miviri.

The government in Kinshasa confirmed the ADF was behind the killings and condemned them strongly. 'In the face of this tragedy, the government reaffirms that the fight against the ADF remains an absolute priority,' the communication and press ministry said in a statement. Miviri noted that insecurity in Beni and elsewhere risks 'awakening the demons' of distrust toward Ebola response teams and causing instability, as happened in the 2018-2020 Ebola response, which claimed nearly 2,300 lives.

Last week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed that insecurity in Congo, especially in Ituri, is severely hampering the Ebola response. He warned that isolating patients and building community trust is impossible 'when bombs are still falling.'