The deadly Ebola outbreak fears the fight near laboratory risks to release virus samples with ‘unimaginable consequences’

The bitter combination in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has caused fears that highly dangerous Ebola viruses can be released from a laboratory in a city assaulted by rebels backed by Rwanda.

The International Red Cross Committee (ICRC) warned about the ‘unimaginable consequences’ if the samples of Ebola and other pathogens had in a rubber laboratory could be escaped and extended in the middle of the crisis.

The regional director of the humanitarian organization, Patrick Youssef, said that the ICRC is very concerned about the situation in the laboratory of the National Biomedical Research Institute, which faces a risk of energy cuts, as well as a matter of preserving the samples that can be be affected by clashes.

Help agencies have also warned that attacks against water and electricity infrastructure could feed the spread of mortal infectious diseases such as cholera, with clashes that trigger a spiral humanitarian crisis.

After the days of bitter fight with the Congolese government forces, the members of the M23 armed group, backed by Kigali, seemed to be on the verge of taking advantage of the eastern city key this morning.

Bertrand Bisimwa, head of the political leader of M23, declared today that his combatants are in the process of bringing “the latest insecurity pockets … under control.”

“Our army is working hard to guarantee total security, complete tranquility and definitive peace, as is the case with all its compatriots living in released areas,” he said in X.

The M23 armed group took control of the rubber airport on Tuesday, said a security source, adding that “more than 1,200 Congolese soldiers have surrendered and are confined” to the base of the UN Mission airport in the RDC in the RDC .

Smoke Obound of a armored personnel (APC) of the stabilization mission of the United Nations Organization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which went next to the road in Nzulo, on the main road that joins the capital of Kivu North Kivu Goma

The members of the M23 armed group walk next to the residents through a street in the Keshero in rubber neighborhood, on January 27, 2025

Residents go through the remains of a burned vehicle after confrontations in rubber streets on January 28, 2025

A child is among the people of the Masisi territory in a temporary hangar in the camp of displaced people in Bulengo, near rubber, province of North-Kivu, on January 15, 2025

A 2019 photo shows that a WHO worker decontaminates the house of a pastor who tested positive for Ebola in the RDC

Days of intense clashes have seen more than 100 people killed and almost 1,000 injured, with the hospitals of the city “overwhelmed” and some patients who are on the floor due to the lack of space, “said the ICRC.

Hundreds of patients have suffered gunshot wounds, mortar and shrapnel, with bodies seen in the streets of the city, according to the United Nations.

The UN said that the humanitarian situation in the besieged city was “extremely worrying” in the midst of massive displacement, food shortages, looted help, overflowing hospitals and generalized sexual violence.

Jens Laerke, spokesman for the United Nations Humanitarian Agency Ocha, Said UN colleagues reported “heavy fire of small weapons and mortar fire throughout the city, and the presence of many corpses in the streets.”

The ICRC also said that its gum medical warehouse had been looted and had to be “urgently restored.”

The World Health Organization also warned that “hospitals and health workers are in danger.”

“We are listening to reports from the health workers who are triggered, and patients, including babies, are trapped in crossfire,” the emergency response coordinator for Dr. Congo, Adelheid, told reporters Marschang.

He warned that significant infrastructure damage such as water stations and electricity networks meant that “conditions abound for the spread of infectious diseases such as cholera and measles.”

Violence in the province of Kivu del Norte rich in minerals around rubber has forced half a million people from their homes since the beginning of the year, according to the UN Business Agency.

At a UN Security Council meeting on the crisis on Tuesday, the world -body’s maintenance strength in the RDC warned that the fight risked to rekindle ethnic conflicts dating back to Rwanda’s genocide and beyond.

Protesters burn improvised barricades in the center of Kinshasa, democratic republic of the Congo

A fire established by the protesters burns outside the French embassy damaged during a march in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, January 28

“In the last four days, the Human Rights Office has documented at least one case of ethnic motivation lynching in a site (of displaced persons) in rubber,” said Vivian Van de Perre of the UN RDC mission, Monusco

After a previous meeting of the Council on Sunday, the Congolese government expressed “consternation” in its “vagus” statement, which was not to appoint Rwanda.

In an emergency meeting on Tuesday, the African Union asked the M23 to ‘place weapons’, also without appointing Rwanda.

The RDC has accused Rwanda of wanting to benefit from the abundant minerals of the region, which include gold, colta, copper and cobalt, and has requested a stronger UN action.

The soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) travel on top of a tank when they leave the rubber city, on January 23

Ruanda has denied the statements, saying that his goal is to address an armed group called FDLR, created by former Hutu leaders of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda who massacred Tutsis.

An UN expert report in July said that up to 4,000 soldiers from Rwanda were fighting along with M23 and that Rwanda had “de facto control” of the group’s operations.

A high fire in August failed to maintain peace and conversations mediated by Angola were abruptly canceled last month.

Help agencies and world leaders have requested an immediate detention of the fight.