Mourners bury DR Congo official killed after defending Ebola response

Relatives and community members gathered in Butembo on Wednesday to bury Marie-Celestin Karondwa, a local politician who died after an assault at his home earlier in the week. Karondwa’s party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDSP), said he was attacked on Sunday after publicly defending the government’s Ebola response on radio; he subsequently died in a local hospital. Family members told reporters the attackers beat him and then set his house alight.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the assault, how many people were involved, or what their precise motives were. The UDSP described Karondwa as targeted because he supported the party’s position about the existence of Ebola and the risks it poses to the population. Local accounts quoted at the funeral provided the detail that the home was burned, but investigators have not publicly identified suspects.

The killing comes amid the DRC’s 17th and deadliest Ebola outbreak, which has recorded more than 8,000 cases and nearly 4,000 deaths to date. Health authorities and international agencies, including the World Health Organization (WHO), report that the outbreak is driven by the Bundibugyo strain, for which no licensed vaccine or specific treatment currently exists; researchers are testing candidate countermeasures.

Response teams have struggled with resistance in parts of eastern DRC, where deep-rooted distrust of government and decades of conflict have made some communities skeptical of Ebola and the response operations. WHO has reported cases across multiple provinces — including Bas-Uele, Haut-Uele, Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Sud Ubangi and Tshopo — and said that Ituri remains the most affected. Officials and responders say assaults on health workers and other personnel have hindered containment efforts, especially in remote and rebel-held areas.