The security situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could be behind the significant decline in Ebola cases over the past week, the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention warned on Thursday.

Africa CDC emergencies head Dr Wessam Mankoula cautioned against reading too much into the plunge in cases over the past week, saying that renewed conflict had made it hard for surveillance teams to do their work.

The Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak has claimed almost 4,000 deaths and infected 8,224 so far, Mankoula added.

James Swan, the United Nations special representative for the Stabilisation Mission in the DRC, told the UN Security Council this week that fighting between DRC forces and the rebel coalition of the AFC/M23 was ongoing in North Kivu, with both sides using heavy weapons and drones.

The DRC’s Ambassador Zenon Mukongo Ngay told the Security Council that the Rwanda Defence Force had been responsible for a drone attack on DRC troops in Nord-Kivu on Monday.

Africa CDC warned that “community resistance” in Ebola hotspots Katwa, Beni, Butembo, Nizi and Nia-Nia in Nord-Kivu was also hampering surveillance efforts.

A senior politician from the ruling party was beaten to death in Butembo on Sunday after promoting Ebola prevention during a radio interview, Reuters reported.

Marie-Celestin Karondwa, acting ​president of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) federal executive committee in ​Butembo, was attacked at his home and his house was set alight.

The day before, armed men ​had attacked a ⁠health checkpoint in Beni, killing at least one person and wounding several others.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International has accused M23 of abusing artisanal miners at a coltan mine near the town of Rubaya in North Kivu province, and Lomera, a gold mine in South Kivu. 

The Amnesty International report, documented reports of M23 rebel “killings, torture and ill-treatment; arbitrary detention; forced labour; forced recruitment; and pillage”.

“Rwanda-backed M23 is committing horrific human rights abuses, which may amount to war crimes, against artisanal miners in eastern DRC,”  said Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General at the launch of the report.

“These [abuses] are meant to punish and instil fear among miners and others living and working near the mines, as minerals are trafficked across the border into Rwanda, which has continued to profit from the exploitation of DRC’s mineral wealth,” added Callamard.

She called on the  African Union and its member states to take “far bolder steps” to end the pillage “driven by an endless international appetite for African critical minerals”.

Image Credits: IPIS/ USAID.