Mourners bury DR Congo official killed after defending Ebola response

Marie-Celestin Karondwa died of his injuries after being beaten at his home in Butembo city, an Ebola hotspot, on Sunday.Mourners have gathered in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to bury a local politician who his party said was beaten to death after he defended the government’s Ebola response on the radio.The funeral for Marie-Celestin Karondwa was held in the city of Butembo on Wednesday.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3DR Congo begins Ebola vaccination trials for frontline health workerslist 2 of 3DR Congo’s Ebola outbreak spreads to two new health zones, WHO sayslist 3 of 3Ebola cases surpass 8,000 as DRC struggles to control outbreakend of listKarondwa was attacked on Sunday at his home in Butembo, an Ebola hotspot in North Kivu province, according to his political party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDSP), which leads the DRC government. He died of his injuries at a local hospital.“They beat him up and then set the house on fire,” his granddaughter, Sagesse Kavira, told The Associated Press news agency at the funeral.The party said Karondwa was “an innocent victim for having defended the party’s position on the existence of the Ebola virus disease … and the threat it poses to the population”.It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack, how many were involved or what motivated it.The burned home of Marie-Celestin Karondwa, a local official who was beaten to death after publicly defending the government’s response to Ebola, in Butembo, DRC, on September 30, 2026 [Sebastien Kitsa Musayi/AP]The killing follows a series of attacks on health workers and other responders as the Central African nation battles its 17th and deadliest Ebola outbreak, which has so far recorded more than 8,000 cases, including nearly 4,000 deaths.The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, for which there is no vaccine or specific treatment, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Researchers are testing potential candidates, the agency said.