Militia Violence Empties 19,000-Person Camp at Heart of Ebola Outbreak as Death Toll Rises

The United Nations expressed alarm in a statement on Thursday that the Kigonze camp in Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — which temporarily housed thousands of displaced people — had been entirely emptied, scattering its population during an uncontrolled Ebola outbreak.

Health authorities in the DRC first identified an Ebola outbreak in the country in May, though World Health Organization (W.H.O.) officials later suggested that the disease began spreading months before the declaration of a public health emergency but went undetected due to the region’s ongoing political unrest, poverty, and lack of health facilities. The strain of Ebola spreading currently was identified as Ebola Bundibugyo, a less common strain for which fewer treatment options are available than the more common Zaire and Sudan strains.

As of this week, DRC authorities have confirmed over 8,000 cases of Ebola, most of them in the eastern province of Ituri, and over 4,000 deaths — a fatality rate of about 50 percent. The outbreak is already estimated to ultimately become the deadliest in DRC history, and potentially the worst Ebola outbreak on the record anywhere else.

A combination of factors on the ground have made emergency response exceedingly difficult in the country. Many people in DRC do not believe that Ebola is a real disease and blame health workers for killing, rather than treating, patients. As a result, emergency responders are often subjected to mob attacks and killings organized by locals. Eastern Congo has also endured years of warfare among rival paramilitary groups seeking to control territory and enslave locals in the lucrative illicit mining industry. These clashes among guerrilla fighters are largely responsible for the mass displacement that necessitated the creation of the Kigonze camp and several other facilities.

In an update on Thursday, the United Nations updated that the Kigonze camp had been emptied of its population, estimated to be about 19,000 people, this week after Congolese government officials approved a military operation to sweep the camp looking for weapons caches and supplies for local paramilitary groups.

“Security forces went to the Kigonze camp looking for weapons and clashes ensued, causing camp residents to flee over the last week, according to Congolese and health officials,” Reuters relayed. As a result, the sprawling camp is currently reportedly empty and the whereabouts of its former residents largely unknown.

The Reuters report observed that, in June, its journalists had heard from local officials that over 30 people had died of Ebola in one month and that authorities had identified about 1,000 people there having contacted known Ebola patients. While Ebola is not airborne and spreads only through contact with an infected patient’s bodily fluids, the violence, lack of hygienic facilities, and practice of traditional burials featuring extensive contact with bodies facilitates the spread of Ebola where it would otherwise be more difficult to contract.

The U.N. had expressed concern with the status of Kigonze and similar camps as recently as this week.

“The U.N. fears that the unplanned departure of thousands of displaced people, combined with restricted access to the site, could hamper disease surveillance,” the U.N. warned on Monday. “Today across Ituri province, more than 1.1 million people are displaced by conflict and violence, including more than 373,000 living in displacement sites.”

Ituri’s provincial government insisted on Thursday that it would find new homes for the displaced from Kigonze and defended the government’s decision to send soldiers to raid the camp, stating that allowing the camp to become a hotbed of rebel activity was unacceptable. The local news outlet Radio Okapi reported on Friday that authorities had already been shutting down Kigonze since September 20 and that officials are aware of the location of some of those who fled.

“Some are hosted by host families while others find themselves without a durable housing solution, according to local sources. However, the provincial government maintains its decision not to reopen the site,” Radio Okapi reported.

The United Nations lamented on Thursday that, in addition to the situation at Kigonze, a key center to transfer Ebola patients in Ituri burned down this week.

“It’s been a huge struggle to create Ebola transit centres [and] Ebola treatment centres; it’s required money, bringing in staff, and it’s been a struggle all across the east,” the U.N.’s senior Ebola response official in DRC, Julien Harneis, said. “So, when we lose a centre, that means we lose capacity, we lose investment, and we have to start again. And above all, it means that people do not get access to the care that they really need.”

The W.H.O. reported some progress on Wednesday with the Ebola response even through the chaotic situation in Ituri.

“The number of mobile safe and dignified burial teams increased from 53 teams of 12 members each to 114 teams deployed across Ituri province,” it shared in a situation update. “In areas of high transmission facing resistance, 57 community teams, previously trained in safe and dignified burials, were deployed across 11 health areas in Mangala and Fataki.”

Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter.