Mourners gathered in Butembo, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on Wednesday to bury Marie-Celestin Karondwa, a local politician whose party says he was beaten to death for publicly defending the government’s response to the ongoing Ebola crisis.
According to the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDSP), which heads the DRC government, Karondwa was attacked at his home in the early hours of Sunday. He later succumbed to his injuries at a local hospital. The UDSP stated that the attack was motivated by Karondwa’s radio appearances where he defended the existence of the virus and the legitimacy of the public health measures.
“They beat him up and then set the house on fire,” Karondwa’s granddaughter, Sagesse Kavira, told The Associated Press during the funeral services. While the party characterized Karondwa as an “innocent victim,” details regarding the identity, number, and specific motives of the attackers remain unclear.
The killing underscores the extreme dangers faced by health workers and officials in the Central African nation, which is currently battling its 17th and deadliest Ebola outbreak. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that the epidemic, driven by the Bundibugyo strain, has surpassed 8,000 cases and nearly 4,000 deaths. Notably, there is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment for this particular strain, though researchers are testing potential candidates.
The WHO confirmed the virus is circulating across several provinces, including Bas-Uele, Haut-Uele, Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Sud Ubangi, and Tshopo, with Ituri remaining the hardest hit. Despite a village-based containment strategy, responders face significant resistance from communities that dismiss Ebola as a hoax or a government scheme to embezzle funds.
This deep-seated mistrust, fueled by decades of conflict and human rights abuses in eastern DRC, has complicated efforts to control the outbreak, particularly in rebel-held areas. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the situation as a “catastrophic collision of disease and conflict,” noting that insecurity continues to hamper the delivery of medical supplies and care to remote hotspots.
I’m not buying the conspiracy theories either, but we have to address why communities trust rebels more than WHO.
8,000 cases with no vaccine? That’s a global health emergency we’re ignoring while media cycles move on.
How can anyone deny a deadly virus is real? The misinformation has literally killed someone here.
This is absolutely horrifying. Standing up for science shouldn’t be a death sentence anywhere.