Red Cross Ebola burial team attacked in Congo outbreak hotspot

Red Cross volunteers carrying out a safe and dignified burial in Bunia were attacked on June 1, injuring several people in the latest sign that Ebola responders in eastern Congo are working in dangerous conditions as well as in a health emergency. Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, sits in a remote, densely populated and insecure part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where population movement and humanitarian strain are complicating the response.

The outbreak was confirmed on May 15 and is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, a form for which there is no licensed vaccine or specific treatment. That makes burial procedures even more central to control efforts, because safe handling of the dead is one of the main ways health workers try to stop transmission after a patient dies.

On June 5, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the DRC Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross condemned the assault in Bunia, saying they were deeply shocked by the attack on volunteers carrying out the burial operation. Health authorities warned that violence against burial teams could fuel further spread because those teams are part of the first line of containment, not a side service.

A separate burial team was also attacked in South Kivu province around June 4, forcing responders to abandon a coffin. The back-to-back assaults show how quickly fear can turn into obstruction when communities see Ebola teams arriving with body bags, disinfectant and instructions that can feel intrusive in the middle of an already fragile security situation.

By June 6, the World Health Organization said the outbreak had reached 515 confirmed cases and 91 deaths in Congo, while Uganda had reported 19 confirmed cases and two deaths. By June 22, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Congo had confirmed more than 1,000 cases, making this the third-largest Ebola outbreak on record. The outbreak had already crossed borders, and the response had become a regional race against time.

The IFRC said on June 22 that it had delivered 23 Safe and Dignified Burial kits, enough to support more than 450 burials, along with more than 300 body bags. It also said it was prepositioning supplies in Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan because of difficult terrain, security problems and airport closures, a reminder that controlling Ebola in this part of Africa depends as much on access, trust and protection as on medicine.