KINSHASA. – Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have resumed efforts to fight a major Ebola outbreak in eastern Beni region after a brief suspension following clashes.

“Despite deadly attacks … Ebola response activities are continuing,” the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Sunday. 

Health Minister Oly Ilunga Kalenga had announced the suspension of operations on Saturday, a day after clashes broke out a few a “few metres” away from a local emergency centre and the hotels of several responses teams in Beni, North Kivu province.

Peacekeepers from the United Nations’ mission in the country (MONUSCO) repelled an offensive by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militia in the city’s northern Boikene neighbourhood late on Friday.

Seven Malawian and one Tanzanian peacekeeper were killed in the attack.

Also on Saturday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said 16 of its staff members had been temporarily evacuated to Goma for psychological care after a shell hit the building they were staying in.

Michel Yao, the WHO’s coordinator for Ebola response operations in Beni, told the AFP news agency that no one was wounded, adding that it was not known whether the shell came from the ADF or MONUSCO forces.

“WHO will continue to work side-by-side with the ministry and our partners to bring this Ebola outbreak to an end,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

“We honour the memory of those who have died battling this outbreak, and deplore the continuing threats on the security of those still working to end it,” he added.

United Nations also resumed activities, including vaccination, the UN health agency said in a statement. 

The latest Ebola outbreak, the country’s 10th, has caused 166 confirmed and 47 probable deaths, mostly in the mineral-rich North Kivu and Ituri provinces that have been the epicentre of interethnic and militia violence for decades. – Al Jazeera

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