BURIAL DISPUTES AND MISTRUST FUEL ATTACKS ON CONGO EBOLA CENTERS

Attacks on Ebola treatment sites in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo appear to be driven mainly by burial disputes, distrust of health authorities, and disbelief about Ebola diagnoses. The violence is complicating efforts to contain the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak, which the World Health Organization says is moving faster than response teams can control. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the outbreak is “outpacing” the response and reported 220 suspected deaths, according to Reuters.

The clearest trigger has been conflict over the bodies of people suspected or confirmed to have died from Ebola. The Associated Press reported that young men stormed Mongbwalu General Hospital demanding the bodies of relatives, in what AP described as the third attack in a week on health facilities involved in Ebola treatment. In another incident reported by Reuters, protesters in Rwampara set fire to Ebola treatment tents after the family of local footballer Eli Munongo Wangu refused a safe burial, disputed that Ebola had killed him, and demanded to take his body.

Safe burial rules are central because Ebola can remain highly infectious after death. Health authorities restrict contact with bodies and use trained burial teams to reduce transmission risk. Those rules can conflict with family, cultural, and religious expectations, especially where communities already distrust official responders. Reuters reported that authorities in one Congo province banned funeral wakes to reduce spread, and noted that the Rwampara unrest followed a family’s refusal of safe-burial procedures.

The deeper issue is not only grief, but mistrust. Reporting from The Times and The Guardian describes widespread disbelief, misinformation, and insecurity in affected areas, with some residents reportedly seeing Ebola as a hoax or foreign invention. The Guardian reported that attacks on facilities in Mongbwalu and Rwampara were linked to demands for traditional burials, while The Times reported that violence, resistance to safe burials, poor infrastructure, and active militias are all weakening containment.

The outbreak itself involves the Bundibugyo strain, a rarer Ebola virus. WHO declared the outbreak in Congo and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern on May 17, while saying it did not meet pandemic criteria. As of May 16, WHO reported eight laboratory-confirmed cases, 246 suspected cases, and 80 suspected deaths in Congo’s Ituri Province, including Bunia, Rwampara, and Mongbwalu. Later figures have risen quickly and should be treated as developing.

Medical tools are limited. Doctors Without Borders says the Bundibugyo strain is distinct from the more common Zaire strain because there is no approved vaccine and no approved treatment. That makes early detection, isolation, supportive care, contact tracing, and public cooperation especially important. When treatment tents are burned, suspected patients flee, or families avoid official burial teams, the response loses the basic tools needed to interrupt transmission.

The violence also echoes earlier Ebola outbreaks in Congo. Reuters noted that during the 2018–2020 outbreak, health facilities were attacked both by civilians angry about the response and by armed groups seeking to exploit the crisis. That history matters because it shows why public-health response cannot rely only on laboratories and protective equipment. It also depends on trust, security, and community leaders who can explain why painful restrictions are being imposed.

For Congo and Uganda, the risk is that the outbreak becomes harder to track at exactly the moment when public cooperation is most needed. The attacks on medical facilities are not just side events. They are a direct threat to containment because they can scatter suspected patients, disrupt contact tracing, and deepen public fear. The immediate public-health challenge is therefore twofold: contain the virus, and rebuild enough trust for affected communities to accept the measures required to stop it.

Fact-check date: 26 May 2026
Sources: WHO, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, The Times, Doctors Without Borders

[IMG]https://vepbrgvfdbpwzesrqysv.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/article-images/1779809561815-9glqqs4ve.png||Mission Offline Desk[/IMG]