In brief
In early June, armed men believed to be from the Allied Democratic Forces detonated a violent raid on the village of Cantine in North Kivu, killing at least 33 residents and setting over 50 houses ablaze. The attack also destroyed a nearby health post, forcing 180 patients – many with suspected Ebola – to flee, heightening fears of a new outbreak. Local officials, civil‑society leaders and the hospital director blamed the ADF for the assault and warned that displaced patients could spread the virus.
Armed men believed to be linked to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) stormed the village of Cantine, North Kivu, on the night of 7 June, killing at least 33 people and setting fire to more than 50 homes, the news outlet Al Jazeera reported on 8 June.
The Al Jazeera article described the raid as an overnight assault that resulted in widespread destruction and a forced exodus of villagers, many of whom were heading away from the most heavily affected area in the DRC’s ongoing Ebola crisis. According to the report, the attackers also set a health post on fire, creating only 180 patients – many with suspected Ebola infections – a figure that the local health director later confirmed.
Colonel Charles Omeonga, the Beni territorial administrator, told the Reuters news agency that the fighters had set fire to several houses and killed civilians. The reporting noted that this statement came after the Al Jazeera piece had surfaced.
Justin Paluku, head of a local civil‑society group, also blamed the ADF for the attack. He said, "So far, we have counted 33 bodies and more than 50 houses set on fire, along with various other forms of material destruction," as told the Associated Press.
In a separate interview with Reuters, Tchetche Aliamini, another local civil‑society leader, confirmed the death toll and added that most of the victims suffered gunshot wounds, while others had been burned or hacked with machetes.
Christian Kakule, medical director of the Kelekele Hospital Centre in Cantine, was interviewed by Reuters and noted that 180 patients – including suspected and one confirmed Ebola case – had fled the local hospital during the attack. He warned that when "probable cases end up out in the open like this, they can become a source of transmission and trigger an outbreak of the disease." Kakule said that gunfire and homes were set ablaze as close as 50 metres from the hospital, adding that high‑risk contacts and other individuals under monitoring all fled.
The strike came at a time when North Kivu accounts for almost half of all new Ebola infections in the DRC’s Bundibugyo outbreak and is the second most affected province after the epicentre, Ituri, per the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention data cited in Al Jazeera. The ADF, which has roots in Uganda and pledged allegiance to ISIL in 2019, has been linked to violent attacks in the region in previous years.
The Ebola outbreak has been described as the fastest‑spreading one in history. Since 2018, the DRC has recorded more than 10,000 cases and 5,300 deaths across the country, with the most severe outbreaks occurring in North Kivu, as highlighted in the Al Jazeera article.
Local officials and civil‑society groups have praised the swift reporting by Al Jazeera and other media for bringing attention to the dual threat of violence and disease in the region. The Al Jazeera outlet has been highlighted for its coverage of the attack, showing how the violence could exacerbate viral transmission by displacing patients from health facilities.
Meanwhile, the government’s response remains unclear in the immediate aftermath, though the safety of the remaining patients and villagers is being monitored closely by health authorities amid fears that displaced cases could ignite a new wave of Ebola.
