Protesters burned tents housing Ebola patients after Congolese authorities declined to hand over the body of a victim, a popular local footballer believed to have died in the ongoing outbreak, for a private burial, witnesses said.
Police used tear gas and fired warning shots to disperse the crowd in Ituri province, underscoring the challenges authorities face in enforcing mandatory safe burial protocols for confirmed or suspected Ebola victims, a key measure in containing the outbreak.
It took place in the town of Rwampara, which has been hit hard by the latest Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment.
Bodies of Ebola victims are highly infectious after death, and unsafe burials – in which family members handle the body without proper protective equipment – are a leading driver of transmission.
The first known case in the current outbreak died in Bunia, Ituri’s provincial capital, on April 24 and the virus spread after his body was returned home to the nearby town of Mongbwalu and mourners gathered around and touched him during a funeral.
Protesters Burn Down Tents Receiving Patients
The family of footballer Eli Munongo Wangu on Thursday refused a safe burial for him, disputed that the virus had killed him and demanded to take his body. Authorities finally buried him overnight into Friday, despite his family’s protests.
A doctor told Reuters he was a suspected Ebola case and the hospital had taken samples to run tests.
His mother told Reuters she believed her son had died of typhoid fever, not Ebola.
His family, friends and neighbours gathered outside the hospital to take his body and bury him themselves, against clear instructions that all bodies must be buried safely, said Jean-Claude Mukendi, a senior police officer coordinating security for the response in Ituri.
Soldiers tried to defuse the tension before police intervened, using tear gas and firing warning shots to disperse the crowd, the Reuters witnesses said.
The crowd then set fire to two tents fitted with eight beds run by medical charity ALIMA, Mukendi said, before army and police reinforcements arrived to bring the situation under control.
Contact Tracing Patients Who May Have Fled
Local chief Batakura Zamundu Mugeni said authorities were working to trace missing patients and contacts, while officials blamed the unrest on misinformation among youths unfamiliar with the dangers of Ebola.
Distrust and false information also hampered Congo’s 2018–2020 Ebola outbreak in North Kivu, the world’s second deadliest, which killed nearly 2,300 people and saw repeated attacks on health centres.
The current outbreak, declared Friday, is already Congo’s third largest, with 160 suspected deaths among 670 suspected cases, according to health ministry data.
Congo’s national football team has meanwhile shifted World Cup preparations to Belgium after cancelling events in Kinshasa due to the outbreak and U.S. travel restrictions.
(With inputs from Reuters)
