Ebola Ravages Congo Camps as Western Aid Collapses

At least 30 people have died since early May in Kigonze camp for displaced civilians in northeastern Congo, with confirmed Ebola cases signaling the disease may be spreading rapidly among vulnerable populations. Camp officials describe the death rate as unprecedented, while resistance to testing and severe sanitation shortfalls compound the crisis.

What is happening in Kigonze camp?

In the dust and despair of Kigonze camp in Bunia, the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, death walks openly. Camp spokesperson Desire Grodya Bapi told Reuters that people did not just die like this before. The camp, which shelters more than 15,000 displaced souls, typically recorded between one and three deaths per month. Now, the graves multiply. Camp President Dz'djo Ndrutsi Etienne confirmed that 10 people were buried this week alone.

It was not possible to confirm the causes of all the deaths because patients or their relatives in Kigonze camp had until Thursday refused testing, according to a camp spokesperson and aid organisation Caritas. However, all had symptoms including headaches, fever and vomiting, which are associated with Ebola. A bereaved father, three aid sources and a civil society leader corroborated this account.

Justin Zanamuzi, director of Catholic aid organisation Caritas, which helps Kigonze's residents, said his team on Wednesday saw several bodies covered in sheets, including a pregnant woman and children. Footage from Thursday shared by the civil society leader and verified by Reuters showed health teams in hazmat suits disinfecting more bodies and preparing tiny coffins next to a crucifix as mourners wailed. Zanamuzi said the team tried to persuade people to accept doctors to inspect the bodies, but they completely refused.

Is Ebola spreading undetected among Congo's displaced?

The deaths in Kigonze raise fears that Ebola may be circulating undetected among eastern Congo's over five million displaced people. Resistance to testing compounds the challenge posed by severely limited sanitation measures. Health workers had taken samples from five victims, some of which came back positive for Ebola, according to Grodya. Three aid sources also confirmed that test samples on some of this week's victims had come back positive for Ebola, without specifying the number.

The outbreak in the country was first declared by Congolese officials on May 15, though officials said the deaths had begun earlier in the month. Ebola deaths have already been recorded in another camp in the same province of Ituri, which has over 90 per cent of nearly 900 confirmed cases.

Camp resident Kato Lonu, 47, lost two children, including a six-month-old. He said these are conditions that no human being should have to live in, and that people are dying one after another.

How did Western aid cuts worsen the crisis?

Four aid workers said the spike in deaths highlighted how communities are now more exposed to diseases such as Ebola as donors, including key contributor the United States under President Donald Trump, have cut funding for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), which is essential in fighting a disease that spreads through bodily fluids such as human waste.

Data compiled by the United Nations showed that funding for toilets and handwashing stations in Congo more than halved between 2024 and 2025, falling to around $38 million. This year's $80 million appeal is only 21 per cent funded. In Kigonze, large families share the same plastic tents spaced less than a meter apart. Children wander its dirt alleyways barefoot. There are toilets marked USAID, Washington's international aid agency dismantled by Trump, and an aid source said the agency helped fund the toilets' construction. However, Grodya and the aid source said there were not enough toilets and they often overflowed. Grodya said the latrines fill up very quickly, and people have to empty them themselves, with their bare hands.

Washington has been the top supporter of WASH services in Congo, providing over $60 million in WASH services in 2024 to reduce the spread of diseases, a summary shared by a former USAID official showed. The Trump administration has defended the cuts, saying it wants to focus on hyper-prioritised life-saving humanitarian assistance. Washington has committed more than $375 million in direct Ebola funding. There was no immediate comment from the US State Department. Reuters could not establish exactly how much, if anything, Washington now gives to Kigonze.

Four aid groups, Mercy Corps, Danish Refugee Council, CARE International and Oxfam, said their US-funded WASH projects for displaced people in the three Ebola-affected provinces were scaled back or dropped since last year's cuts. Mercy Corps built 82 taps and more than 400 public toilets serving over 125,000 displaced people in 2024. This year, funding cuts mean that fewer than 19,000 people are being served by six taps and no public toilets, the aid group said.

What does this crisis mean for the Muslim world?

Congo has hundreds of camps for civilians fleeing war, some home to 100,000 people. The suffering there is a reminder that the duty to relieve human suffering does not pause at borders. Where the West withdraws its hand, the Muslim world must examine its own conscience. The Ummah's strength lies not merely in the defense of its own soil, but in the compassion it extends to the vulnerable, wherever they may be. When latrines overflow and children die barefoot in the dirt, the failure is not only of those who cut the funding, but of all who looked away.