WHO chief lands in Congo to address rare Ebola outbreak amid distrust
and insecurity
[May 29, 2026]
By JEAN-YVES KAMALE AND MARK BANCHEREAU
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization arrived
in Congo's capital, Kinshasa, late Thursday to witness efforts against
an outbreak of a rare type of Ebola virus, as medical personnel struggle
with a lack of equipment, a distrustful population and armed groups in a
volatile region.
“To come here is to really show to the community that they’re not
alone," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters
at the airport.
“Pushing orders from my comfortable office in Geneva is easy, but I’m
asking my colleagues to work with the community and I am asking
communities to protect themselves,” he added.
Medical aid donated by the European Union arrived in Ituri province, the
heart of Congo’s Ebola outbreak, on Thursday. The United States
announced the same day $80 million in additional aid, bringing its total
commitment to more than $112 million.
Health workers with scant supplies have been struggling to contain an
outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus, a kind of Ebola that has no approved
treatment or vaccine. In some areas, doctors have resorted to wearing
expired medical masks while treating suspected patients.
According to WHO, 1,077 suspected cases and 238 suspected deaths have
been recorded as of Tuesday,
Dangers faced by health workers have been heightened by anger among
residents over the stringent medical protocols for dealing with the
bodies of victims, which clash with local burial rites. Residents have
launched at least three attacks against health centers.
Tedros said other challenges are also complicating the containment of
the outbreak, including the high number of people displaced by armed
conflict in the region, and food insecurity.
On Wednesday, he had called for a ceasefire in a region where armed
groups have staged violent attacks for decades.
“We cannot build community trust or isolate the sick while bombs are
falling,” Tedros said.
Tucked in the northeastern part of Congo close to the Ugandan border,
Ituri province has been reeling from attacks by the Allied Democratic
Force, a rebel group allied with the Islamic State group, and a
coalition of ethnic militias. In early May, the ADF killed at least 40
people and burned several homes in Ituri.
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Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros
Adhanom Ghebreyesus, left, is welcomed by UK Foreign Secretary
Yvette Cooper at N'djili International Airport in Kinshasa, Congo,
Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)
 The illness also has been reported
in the Congolese provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, south of
Ituri, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controls many key
cities, including Goma and Bukavu. The rebels have reported two
cases.
The region’s main airport in Goma, which doubles as a staging ground
for humanitarian efforts into the region, has been closed since
January 2025, when M23 seized the city.
The conflict has precipitated one of the world’s largest
humanitarian crises, with at least 7 million people displaced in
eastern Congo.
The WHO chief said Thursday he discourages countries from imposing
travel bans against nationals of countries affected by the outbreak.
“There are ways to manage workers and to manage cases without having
a strong, restricted travel ban and we don’t encourage that as WHO,”
Tedros said.
The Trump administration last week announced a temporary ban on the
entry of people without U.S. passports, as well as U.S. green-card
holders, who have visited Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the past
21 days. It said Wednesday it plans to send Americans who are
exposed to Ebola to a new facility in Kenya instead of flying them
to the U.S. Congo's neighbors, Uganda and Rwanda, recently closed
their borders.
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Banchereau contributed from Dakar, Senegal.
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