FRANCE PERSPECTIVE

Paris, May 24, 2026. The figure was released Sunday evening by the WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: more than 900 suspected Ebola cases have been identified in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including 101 confirmed by laboratory tests. The balance sheet released Saturday, May 23, by the Congolese Ministry of Public Health reported 867 suspected cases and 204 probable deaths—figures evolving hourly as surveillance intensifies across the eastern regions.

The alarming particularity of this outbreak lies in the viral strain involved. On May 15, the DRC declared an epidemic linked to Bundibugyo virus, a rare Ebola variant against which neither a licensed vaccine nor specific treatment currently exists. Its fatality rate can reach 50 percent. Facing this threat, the WHO elevated its health alert level to "very high" on May 22, triggering international mobilization.

The epidemic epicenter sits in Ituri province, northeastern Congo, a region devastated for years by armed groups. The M23/ADF rebels, backed by Rwanda, control vast swaths of territory, forcing doctors and nurses to flee. Doctors Without Borders had sounded the alarm even before the outbreak began: health facilities in this zone already faced "catastrophic conditions."

To this structural decay adds an explosive political dimension: massive cuts in international aid budgets have stripped vulnerable communities of the few remaining health resources they possessed. The NGO Physicians for Human Rights summarized the situation in blunt terms: "A devastating convergence of emergencies." This week, two health centers were set ablaze—one in Mongbwalu, the other in Rwampara—by angry or distrustful residents. Eighteen suspected cases took advantage of the Mongbwalu center fire to flee.

The shockwave extends beyond Congolese borders. Uganda confirmed three new cases, and the Africa CDC warned Saturday: ten additional African countries are now "at risk"—among them Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Burundi, Angola, the Central African Republic, Zambia, and Congo-Brazzaville. Nearly all border the DRC or Uganda. Rwanda and Uganda have already imposed travel restrictions with Congolese territory. Three Red Cross volunteers also died after contracting the virus in March in eastern Congo, illustrating the danger to which humanitarian workers expose themselves in the field.