FRANCE PERSPECTIVE

Paris, May 21, 2026. The Ebola outbreak ravaging eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has captured the attention of French media, which are deciphering a crisis with multiple facets. The toll, announced by Congolese Health Minister Samuel Kamba on RFI on May 21, now stands at 159 probable deaths and 626 suspected cases — figures that experts consider very low due to the inaccessibility of the affected areas.

The World Health Organization triggered an international health alert on May 17, qualifying this 17th Congolese outbreak as a global health emergency. It estimates the epidemic risk as 'high' for central Africa, while considering it 'low' at the global level. The strain responsible, known as Bundibugyo, makes the response particularly difficult: unlike the well-known Zaïre strain, its initial symptoms — high fever, vomiting, diarrhea — resemble those of malaria. The diagnosis can only be confirmed by laboratory tests, and not all INRB equipment in the country is equipped to detect this variant. In Mongwalu, samples take several days to reach the laboratory in Bunia.

The burning of an Ebola treatment center, set on fire by young people from a locality in Ituri who were furious that they could not recover the body of a relative suspected of being infected, illustrates the deep distrust of local populations towards healthcare facilities. For epidemiologist Renaud Piarroux, interviewed by Mediapart, 'the difficulty is not sanitary, but geopolitical and security-related.' On the ground, MSF confirms: 'There is no effective action yet,' according to Florent Uzzeni, cited by RFI.

The virus's progression towards South Kivu, a territory that fell under the control of the armed group AFC/M23 in February 2025, has heightened concerns. A 28-year-old man there succumbed to the disease before his diagnosis was confirmed, having arrived from Kisangani, a city that had so far been spared. The lines of front cutting North and South Kivu in two make any sanitary coordination with Kinshasa extremely difficult.

The crisis has already had tangible diplomatic repercussions: the India-Africa summit, scheduled for May 28-31 in New Delhi — the previous edition dated back to 2015 — has been postponed indefinitely due to 'the evolution of the sanitary situation.' In the air, an Air France flight from Paris to Detroit was diverted on May 20 to Montreal to disembark a Congolese national, in accordance with US measures restricting entry to the territory. The company emphasized that there was no medical emergency on board and that the passenger showed no symptoms.