India-Africa summit postponed as Ebola spreads to M23-held DR Congo area

Efforts to stop the latest outbreak of the deadly disease have been hampered by armed conflict in eastern DR Congo and foreign aid cuts.The ⁠African Union and India have postponed the ⁠India-Africa ⁠Forum Summit scheduled for next week in ‌New Delhi, due to ⁠the “evolving health situation in parts of Africa”.India’s Ministry of External Affairs made the announcement on Thursday as health officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are battling a growing Ebola disease outbreak.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3WHO says 600 suspected cases, 139 deaths in growing Ebola outbreaklist 2 of 3DR Congo cancel World Cup training camp in Kinshasa over Ebola outbreaklist 3 of 3Ebola outbreak: When will a vaccine be developed for the new strain?end of listThe decision was made in recognition of “the importance of ensuring the full participation and engagement of African leaders and stakeholders, and mindful of the emerging public health situation on the continent,” the joint statement said.The announcement comes as the first Ebola case was confirmed in the DR Congo’s South Kivu province, an area controlled by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, the group’s spokesman said on Thursday.Efforts to stop the latest outbreak of the deadly disease, which the World Health Organization has declared an international emergency, have been affected by the DRC’s longrunning conflicts, including between the Congolese army and the M23.The armed has never had to manage a response to a serious epidemic of a disease like Ebola, which has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa in the past half-century. M23 said earlier this week that it was committed to working with international partners to contain the outbreak, though the response has been ‌ complicated by the virus’s presence in densely populated urban areas in eastern DRC.The new case was located ⁠in a rural area near the provincial capital of Bukavu, which fell into M23 hands in February 2025. It marks an expansion of an outbreak that experts believe circulated for about two months in Ituri province, several hundred kilometres to the north, before being detected last week.