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Abstract
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Armed groups have killed four Ebola responders in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and injured five others, in a series of attacks that began late on 27 November, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The dead include a vaccination worker, two drivers and police officer, the agency said. Dozens of aid workers are being evacuated from the areas under siege, and the Ebola response there has mostly halted.
The attacks, in Biakato and Mangina, came after violence in nearby Beni prompted the WHO and aid groups to begin evacuating workers from that city earlier this week.
One late-night attack by the grass-roots militia known as the Mai-Mai targeted the residence of Ebola responders in Biakato. The vaccination worker was one of several people killed there, according to the Centre of Study for the Promotion of Peace, Democracy and Human Rights, a DRC activist group.
The same night -- 27 November -- armed groups charged an Ebola-response coordination centre in Mangina, the WHO says. Police protecting the centre fought back, and one person was killed in the crossfire.
It is not clear whether the attacks in Mangina and Biakato are related to each other or to the continuing violence in Beni. An armed group called the ADF (Allied Democratic Forces) has terrorized residents there with machetes and knives over the past three weeks. Roughly 100 people have been killed and many more displaced, according to the Congo Research Group at New York University. The ADF is one of dozens of armed groups that operate in the DRC.
The WHO said earlier this week that the violence in Beni would probably cause the number of new Ebola cases to rise; the situation is poised to worsen with the evacuation of Ebola responders from Biakato and Mangina...
Language: en |