Politician beaten to death after radio interview promoting Ebola awareness

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.

A politician has been beaten to death in the Democratic Republic of Congo after he tried to promote measures to prevent spread of Ebola, his party has said.

Marie-Celestin Karondwa, the acting president of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress, was attacked in Butembo in the North Kivu province, after a radio interview.

A representative said that 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”, according to Reuters.

In a statement the party said that attackers beat the politician, stole his belongings and set his house on fire. He later died of his injuries in hospital.

The number of attackers has not been confirmed and they are yet to be identified, but they are all believed to have been residents in his local neighbourhood. The motive behind the attack is also unclear.

Butembo has become a hotspot in the ongoing deadly Ebola outbreak in the DRC.

Karondwa’s death is the latest in a spate of attacks against healthcare workers amid suspicion around the disease and what experts have dubbed misinformation.

On Saturday, a hand-washing checkpoint was stormed by armed men killing at least one person and wounding several others, according to local groups.

At least 8,067 have been infected and 3,901 people have been killed, according to government data released on Monday.

“The continuously high crude case fatality ratio, and especially the continuously high rate of deaths occurring in communities, highlights the seriousness of the disease and the persistent challenges in timely case detection and access to early and adequate patient care,” the World Health Organisation said in its latest report.

The WHO also warned about a shortage of healthcare workers to contain the disease and at least 50 healthcare workers have died since the outbreak was announced on 15 May this year, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

It has become the largest and deadliest outbreak in the country’s history, and only second to the 2014 outbreak in West Africa, which killed more than 28,600 people.

However, the WHO has warned that this outbreak is on track out outpace that one.

Ebola is an acute viral disease with the first known case appearing in 1976. It attacks internal organs when infected with initial symptoms appearing as fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and a soar throat.

This then develops into vomiting, rashes and impaired kidney and liver functions as well as both internal and external bleeding.