Description: The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), and ISIS – affiliate terrorist group operating between the borders of DR Congo and Uganda, attacked a village hosting several camps threating patients from the latest outbreak of the Ebola virus. The attack happened in the village of Mbau in the North Kivu province, where ADF killed more than 10 civilians and enabled patients infected with Ebola to flee the camps, further increasing the risk of spreading the disease. ADF was also accused by the Congolese government of conducting another attack during the weekend in the town of Oicha and the city of Beni also in the North Kivu province, where civilians were massacred and atrocities such as decapitations were reported. The country confirmed that 344 cases of Ebola were confirmed with 60 deaths so far, while the WHO recently confirmed the epidemic to be under control.
Impact: The latest wave of ADF attacks confirm the devastating security and humanitarian situation in the DR Congo and arrive only a day after the US sanctioned senior commanders from the M23 rebel group and the FDLR militia, which in turn likely confirmed the limited effects of the sanctions and reaffirmed the necessity for hard power measures in the country in order to neutralize the conflict. ADF would likely further exploit the healthcare crisis caused by the Ebola virus and fill the security vacuum in provinces where the M23 and the DR Congo military are engaged in intense fighting. This would likely result in uptick of confirmed cases of Ebola in the immediate term since the healthcare sector in the country has been plundered by conflict and devastating economic conditions. The healthcare crisis is likely to be contained within the mid – term, while the security crisis in the country would continue to simmer in the long – term in absence of concrete measures and peacekeeping troops on the ground.