DR Congo ruling party official beaten to death after Ebola radio programme

A senior official of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s ruling party was beaten to death on Sunday after appearing on a radio programme to raise awareness about the Ebola outbreak, according to a party representative.

Marie-Celestin Karondwa, acting president of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) federal executive committee in Butembo, a new hotspot of the outbreak, was attacked after participating in a radio programme on Ebola prevention, the party’s federation in the city said in a statement, Reuters reported.

The attackers allegedly beat Karondwa, stole his belongings and set his house on fire. He later died from injuries sustained during the attack.

The identity and number of the attackers, as well as their motive, were not immediately known.

The UDPS said Karondwa was attacked after defending the party’s position on the existence of Ebola and the danger it poses to the population.

His death comes amid a series of attacks on healthcare workers and treatment centres, which experts have linked to misinformation about Ebola and distrust of health responders.

The violence has included riots, property damage and disruptions to essential health services. On Saturday, armed men reportedly attacked a hand-washing checkpoint in the nearby Beni territory, killing at least one person and injuring several others, according to a local civil society group.

Ebola was first identified in what is now the DRC in 1976. The highly contagious viral disease affects humans and non-human primates and can spread through contact with infected bodily fluids or contaminated materials.

The current outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no approved treatment or vaccine, according to the report. The outbreak was first announced on May 15, with the DRC health ministry reporting 8,067 infections and 3,901 deaths.

Cases have been confirmed in seven provinces.

The outbreak has been described as the largest and deadliest in the DRC’s history and has surpassed the scale of the 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which infected more than 28,600 people and killed more than 11,000.

Data from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the current outbreak had already exceeded the West African outbreak’s figures.