A senior member of the ruling party in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was assaulted by a mob, robbed, and beaten to death in his own neighborhood on Sunday, shortly after calling for stronger measures against the Ebola outbreak on a radio program.
Marie-Celestin Karondwa, acting president of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party in the city of Butembo, appeared on a radio show about Ebola on Sunday afternoon. Butembo is located in North Kivu province, which experienced a sharp rise in cases over the past few weeks as the total number of infections in the DRC surpassed 8,000, with 3,901 known fatalities.
The Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak began in Ituri province, where most of the infections and deaths have been reported, but North Kivu reached 1,523 cases and 906 deaths in the latest update.
The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) is concerned that the DRC is losing ground against Ebola due to a shortage of health workers, public harassment of clinics, and persistent delays from patients in seeking treatment. Ituri and the other provinces that were hit by Ebola early appear to be improving in terms of public response, while provinces like North Kivu that were more recently added to the outbreak are getting worse.
“The continuously high crude case fatality ratio, and especially the continuously high rate of deaths occurring in communities, highlights the seriousness of the disease and the persistent challenges in timely case detection and access to early and adequate patient care,” W.H.O. said in its latest report on the DRC.
Karondwa addressed these issues in his radio appearance, urging people to take the threat of Ebola more seriously. After his appearance on the show, he was attacked by a mob outside his home, savagely beaten, and robbed of his belongings. The mob also set his house on fire. Karondwa later died from his injuries.
UDPS issued a statement describing its slain official as “an innocent victim for having defended the party’s position on the existence of the Ebola virus disease … and the threat it poses to the population.”
As the statement indicated, and as healthcare workers have long testified, many Congolese do not believe Ebola is real. Others believe the disease is a biological weapon, deliberately spread by government doctors or foreign interests. Angry mobs have attacked treatment centers on several occasions, especially when demanding the return of an Ebola victim’s body for a traditional burial.
Reuters reported on Monday that it was “not immediately clear who carried out the attack” on Karondwa, or “what motivated it.” The mayor of Butembo has not responded to requests for comment.
Reuters noted that a “hand-washing checkpoint in nearby Beni” was also attacked by a group of armed men on Saturday, with at least one fatality and several injuries reported.