By RFIPalled on 22-04-2019Modified 22-04-2019 at 21:18

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the "dead city" day was pretty well followed on Monday (April 22nd) in Butembo, in the east of the country. The slogan was launched by civil society in support of the response teams of the Ebola outbreak. Last week, two new centers were attacked by armed men, a WHO Cameroonian doctor was killed, in a context of mistrust of the population towards the medical teams whereas, since last August, nearly 900 people are dead from this disease.

The "dead city" day was followed at 70%. Large companies have not opened, nor have major retailers and major community centers worked. Joined by RFI, Ely Karuvusa, vice president of civil society Butembo also said that during this day dead city, we could nevertheless observe women selling essential products.

Ely Karuyusa adds that, following a survey, most of the population is still not really convinced of the existence of the Ebola virus disease. He explains to us why civil society wanted to launch this action and keep another language.

" We wanted to challenge the conscience of everyone. We believe that we must not play with people's lives when we attack people, heroes who give themselves to work hard and sacrifice themselves in order to save lives. It was a way to bring our solidarity and show that civil society is always on the side of reason and the reason is that we all must fight this disease, "he said.

Mistrust of the population

Defiance, questioning the very existence of the disease ... in Butembo as in Beni, the hostility towards the medical teams is very strong, nine months after the beginning of the epidemic. This situation can be explained in particular by the political context and the postponed polls in this area deemed to have won the opposition, according to Christophe Vogel, a researcher at the University of Ghent, Belgium, and a specialist in eastern Congo.

It remains quite difficult for those involved in the response to win the trust of the population.

Christophe Vogel

22-04-2019 - By Sonia Rolley

    On the same subject

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