Rebel attacks in eastern DRC kill 30 people and hamper Ebola response

Islamic State-linked militia blamed for raids in North Kivu as governor says three patients with disease fled clinics

Rebel attacks around a town that is one of the centres of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have left more than 30 people dead over the past few days, complicating the response to the disease.

At least 10 people were massacred in raids on three villages around the city of Beni, in North Kivu, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a militia affiliated to Islamic State , has been blamed for the attacks on the villages of Matété, Mamuli and Kitoho in eastern DRC.

Isaac Kavalami, a community leader from the region, said: “We have provisionally recorded around 10 deaths. Motorcycles and homes were set alight by the ADF rebels. They also kidnapped civilians, the number of whom is not yet known.”

As of Wednesday, 344 cases and 60 deaths have been recorded in the Ebola outbreak in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri provinces.

Just before midnight on Saturday, the militia entered Beni, which has been under DRC military administration since 2021.

People were beheaded and others shot in the attack, which caused widespread panic and sent hundreds of people running from their homes into the bush. More than 20 men, women and children, were reported killed and dozens missing, according to witnesses.