Aid supplies have been rushed into the epicentre of Congo's Ebola outbreak, where medical workers are contending with equipment shortages, a distrustful population, and armed groups in a volatile region. A white cargo plane on Thursday morning delivered masks, gloves, boots, and medications—all in short supply—donated by the European Union to Bunia, a northeastern town at the heart of the outbreak. United Nations-branded forklifts lifted several cases into trucks.
In Bunia, Associated Press reporters observed empty emergency treatment centres, while doctors in the nearby town of Bambu were using expired medical masks while treating suspected Ebola patients. At least three attacks have been recorded against health centres in Ituri province as residents protested stringent medical protocols that clashed with local burial rites, heightening the danger faced by health workers.
The aid delivery from the EU is expected to arrive in batches over the next eight days, according to Jérôme Kouachi, head of emergency operations at UNICEF in Congo. The director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced on Thursday that he was en route to Congo to observe first-hand efforts to contain the Bundibugyo virus, which has no approved treatment or vaccine. The WHO has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern in an effort to ramp up aid.
The Congolese government has confirmed more than 1,000 suspected cases, with at least 220 deaths, since declaring an outbreak on May 15. However, the virus had been spreading undetected for weeks, and the WHO suspects the true scale is much larger than reported. The virus has also reached neighbouring Uganda, which has confirmed seven cases and one death. On Wednesday, the Congolese government announced that the first survivor to recover from the virus had left a health centre.
"We are trying to catch up," Congo Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner said earlier this week. "It is a race against the clock." The response on the ground has been hampered by multiple challenges, including customs red tape, insufficient storage facilities, bad roads, and weak telecommunications, humanitarian agencies reported on Thursday.
Tedros on Wednesday called for a ceasefire in a region where armed groups have staged violent attacks for decades. "We cannot build community trust or isolate the sick while bombs are falling," he said. Tucked in the northeastern part of Congo close to the Ugandan border, Ituri province has been reeling from attacks by the Allied Democratic Force, a rebel group allied with the Islamic State group, and a coalition of ethnic militias. In early May, the ADF killed at least 40 people and burned several homes in Ituri.
The illness has also been reported in two Congolese provinces south of Ituri—North Kivu and South Kivu—where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controls many key cities, including Goma and Bukavu. The rebels have reported two cases. The region’s main airport in Goma, which serves as a staging ground for humanitarian efforts, has been closed since January 2025 when M23 seized the city. The conflict has precipitated one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with at least 7 million people displaced in eastern Congo.
