Alarm as Red Cross workers attacked in Congo Ebola efforts
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The international community is sounding new alarm after three Red Cross workers were attacked while trying to contain the latest deadly Ebola outbreak in Congo.
The U.N. Security Council seeks an immediate end to hostilities as it leaves for a Congo visit Thursday. Human Rights Watch urges an investigation into massacres that have killed well over 200 civilians this year in and around Beni, where health workers' Ebola efforts are based.
Two of the Red Cross workers were seriously wounded Tuesday when community members attacked them while they were carrying out safe Ebola burials in the northeastern city of Butembo, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
It was the most violent attack on Red Cross workers in this outbreak, the organization said in a statement. In September, a Red Cross volunteer was injured when people threw stones at a vehicle transporting a burial team.
"While we categorically denounce the attack on our colleagues, we understand the fear and frustration that many communities in North Kivu feel right now," said Dr. Fatoumata Nafo-Traore, IFRC regional director for Africa. "People are scared and there are many rumors circulating that only serve to heighten the sense of fear and distrust."
This is the first time this part of Congo has faced an outbreak of Ebola, which is spread via the body fluids of infected people, including the dead. Congo's health ministry says there have been 130 confirmed Ebola cases, including 74 deaths, since the outbreak was declared Aug. 1.
Safe burials are critical in stopping the spread of the disease, and the Red Cross said it has carried out 162 in North Kivu since the outbreak, Congo's tenth, began.
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