Nine Left Dead In Congo After Militiamen Try To Attack Ebola Centre


By Joburg Post

Eight militants and a police officer were killed on Wednesday during an attempted attack on an Ebola treatment centre in eastern Congo, authorities said.

"Dozens of Mai-Mai militiamen invaded Butembo's city centre and created panic, so the armed forces and the police pushed them back," 

said Sylvain Kanyamanda, mayor of Butembo in the province of North Kivu.

Kanyamanda said the militants had intended to attack an Ebola centre in the area. The virus has killed more than 1 000 people since the outbreak - the second largest ever - began last year.

Congolese soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) patrol as they search for Mai-Mai Yakutumba rebels in Namoya. Picture: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters


The Mai-Mai are one of numerous militia groups operating in troubled eastern Congo, most fighting over the country's rich natural resources.

Authorities and aid groups have struggled to control the outbreak amid a local population suspicious of health workers and treatment centres being attacked and burned.

-JP

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