According to the report, health authorities reported 71 new confirmed cases on June 4, including 21 deaths, in Ituri and North Kivu provinces, a sign of rapid and continuing community transmission amid the outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus.
A total of 258 patients are in isolation or hospital care, while eight people have recovered.
Contact tracing remains a major gap, the report said, noting that of 4,766 contacts under follow-up across the three provinces, only 2,755 have been seen, representing an overall follow-up rate of 57.8 percent.
The DRC health authorities listed the main challenges facing the response, including resistance to post-mortem swabbing, insufficient standardized Ebola treatment capacity, weak contact tracing, shortages of essential medicines, inadequate infection-prevention supplies in North Kivu, poor alert reporting and a 21.5-million-U.S.-dollar funding gap.
Uganda has also confirmed three new Ebola cases, bringing the cumulative number of infections to 19, the Ugandan Ministry of Health said on Friday.
The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization on Friday launched a continental Ebola outbreak preparedness and response plan, aiming to raise 518 million U.S. dollars to support African countries to prepare for, rapidly detect and respond to the outbreak for the period between June and November.
The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has risen to 452
Gen Tshiwewe was arrested in early July 2025, seven months after serving as military advisor to President Félix Tshisekedi. He had been appointed to that position following his removal as Chief of Staff in December 2024.
He was detained alongside Gen Maj Maurice Nyembo, his former chief of staff, and several other officers, including Lt Col Adelart Mwiza, who was responsible for his personal security. The reasons for their arrest were not initially disclosed.
When Gen Tshiwewe was brought before the court, the military prosecution, led by Lt Gen Lucien René Likulia Bakumi, confirmed that his case file includes eight other senior officers and one civilian, Pascal Nyembo Muyumba.
The co-accused officers include Gen John Numbi; Brig Gen Chinyabuuma Pascal Kamukinde, both currently in exile; Gen Maj Nyembo; Brig Gen John Ngoy Kabila; Brig Gen John Sangwa Muhemedi; Col Guy Mukombozi Zahinda; Col Pathy Sangwa Lumbu; and Col Christophe Tshibangu Kenge.
The prosecution alleges that Gen Tshiwewe, alongside the senior officers and the civilian suspect, was involved in a coordinated plan to overthrow President Félix Tshisekedi’s government. The charges include treason, incitement of soldiers to disobey lawful orders, and illegal possession of firearms.
According to the prosecution, the alleged plot to remove President Tshisekedi from power was developed between 2020 and July 2025, when the suspects were arrested.
Gen Tshiwewe is said to have been recruited into the alleged scheme by Gen Maj Maurice Nyembo, a close associate since 2018. The two are reported to have held frequent nighttime meetings, allegedly attended by other FARDC officers opposed to the current administration.
As the alleged plan evolved, Gen Tshiwewe is accused of relying on several senior officers, including one Brigadier General and two Colonels, to advance its objectives.
On July 9, 2025, security forces searched Gen Tshiwewe’s residence in the Gombe commune of Kinshasa, where they reportedly discovered a significant cache of weapons, including AK-47 rifles, RPG launchers, PKM machine guns, more than 4,300 rounds of ammunition, and grenades.
The prosecution argues that the quantity and nature of the weapons indicate they were not intended for personal protection, but were instead linked to the alleged plan to overthrow the government.
Pascal Nyembo, who is currently in exile, is accused of coordinating the alleged network, issuing instructions to participants, and providing financial support.
Gen John Numbi, a former Inspector General of the FARDC and former national police chief, is accused of inciting soldiers and police officers to disobey President Tshisekedi and support efforts to remove him from power, including through the use of social media platforms.
The prosecution further alleges that Gen Numbi recruited Brig Gen Sangwa into the scheme and provided substantial funding for its execution, including a reported USD 842,320 transferred to Gen Maj Nyembo’s account.
Regarding Brig Gen John Ngoy Kabila, prosecutors state that he acted as a liaison between networks linked to former President Joseph Kabila, who led the DRC from 2001 to 2019, and individuals allegedly involved in the plot.
The case further alleges that Brig Gen Ngoy received instructions from Pascal Nyembo to assist senior officers, including Lt Gen Philémon Yav Irung, Gen Zelwa Katanga, and former senior police officer Christian Kenga Kenga, in escaping detention so they could join the alleged network.
Brig Gen Ngoy is also accused of participating in discussions in which he allegedly expressed sympathy for Joseph Kabila and supported the idea of overthrowing the government, drawing parallels with the 2021 coup in Guinea-Conakry.
Gen Tshiwewe was arrested in early July 2025, seven months after serving as military advisor to President Félix Tshisekedi. Gen Maj Nyembo is accused of recruiting Gen Tshiwewe into a plot to remove President Tshisekedi from power.Gen John Numbi, who fled the country in 2021, is accused of sending funds to support the plan.Among those brought before the court, Gen Numbi, Brig Gen Chinyabuuma, and Pascal Nyembo were absent as they are in exile.
Speaking at a press briefing in Kinshasa, Kamba said about 233 patients are currently hospitalized in health facilities, either for isolation while awaiting test results or for treatment after developing the disease.
The minister said the country’s testing capacity has improved significantly following the arrival of more than 4,000 testing kits from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and additional international support, allowing health authorities to test almost all samples received and provide results within 24 hours.
He also said contact tracing has improved from about 9 percent at the beginning of the response to 55 percent now. The target is to reach 90 percent, which would allow health authorities to identify almost all contacts and better anticipate where new cases may appear.
Kamba said the outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo virus, has so far affected three provinces, namely Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu.
The DRC declared the Ebola outbreak on May 15. Health authorities and international partners have since stepped up testing, isolation, treatment and contact tracing in the affected eastern provinces. The World Health Organization later designated it a public health emergency of international concern.
Uganda has reported 16 confirmed cases, with one case newly confirmed on Thursday, according to the Ugandan health ministry.
Confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have risen to 381, including 63 deaths, Health Minister Roger Kamba said Thursday evening.
However, statements attributed to former French President François Mitterrand indicate that he did not believe the RPF had a motive to assassinate Habyarimana at a time when the Arusha Peace Accords were paving the way for the movement’s participation in government.
The aircraft carrying Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down as it approached Kigali after the two leaders had attended a regional summit in Arusha, Tanzania.
At the time, Rwanda was implementing the Arusha Peace Accords, which were intended to end hostilities between the government and the RPF.
As part of the agreement, 600 RPA soldiers had already been deployed to the CND building in Kigali to protect RPF officials who were expected to join a broad-based transitional government.
The accords envisioned power-sharing arrangements that would integrate the RPF into state institutions, including the executive and legislative branches, while also providing for the integration of government forces and the RPA into a unified national army.
The assassination of Habyarimana, however, was followed by the Genocide against the Tutsi, during which more than one million people were killed in a period of 100 days.
Records from a French Cabinet meeting held on June 22, 1994, show that Mitterrand regarded Habyarimana as a central figure in Rwanda’s political transition.
According to the meeting notes, France had supported the Rwandan government while encouraging negotiations with the RPF through the Arusha process.
Mitterrand reportedly noted that the agreements reached in Arusha appeared favourable to the RPF, which was on the verge of entering government institutions.
For that reason, he suggested that the assassination may have been the work of Hutu hardliners opposed to the peace process.
Similar conclusions have appeared in other accounts. A previously classified report by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reportedly indicated that the attack on Habyarimana’s aircraft may have been carried out by extremist elements within the former government forces, including members of the presidential guard.
The report also alleged that those groups had access to anti-aircraft weapons capable of carrying out such an operation.
This was also explored in Stepp’d in Blood: Akazu and the Architects of the Rwandan Genocide Against the Tutsi, a book by investigative journalist Andrew Wallis.
According to Wallis, individuals within the president’s inner circle feared losing political influence as Habyarimana moved toward implementing the Arusha agreements.
Wallis writes that, two days before the plane crash, Habyarimana informed his chief of staff, Enoch Ruhigira, that preparations should begin for the swearing-in of a new government that would include a broader range of political actors rather than members of the Akazu network alone.
The author argues that the proposal alarmed influential figures close to the president, prompting urgent consultations among senior military officers and political allies who opposed the power-sharing arrangement.
Mitterrand also maintained that French troops deployed in Rwanda should focus on protecting civilians rather than becoming involved in combat operations.
Nevertheless, France’s role during the conflict has remained the subject of intense debate. Critics have long argued that French forces worked closely with the former Rwandan army during the conflict and later facilitated the escape of some perpetrators of the Genocide against the Tutsi.
Operation Turquoise, launched by France in June 1994, involved approximately 2,500 troops deployed in southwestern Rwanda.
While France has described the mission as a humanitarian intervention, critics argue that it created a corridor through which members of the former army and Interahamwe militia fled into what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Mitterrand was considered as a father figure to Habyarimana.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who just returned from a visit to the DRC, said he was very encouraged by the level of commitment he saw in the country. “What I saw gave me hope, although challenges remain.”
Tedros said that in the DRC, 344 cases have been confirmed, including 60 deaths, in 24 health zones across three provinces, while the number of suspected cases has been reduced to 116 from over 1,000 last week.
Tedros said WHO’s risk assessment remains unchanged: very high at the national level, high at the regional level, and low at the global level. “The outbreak had a big head start, and we’re still behind, but under the leadership of the Government of DRC, we are catching up,” he said.
Nonetheless, Tedros noted several challenges, which include scaling up laboratory and diagnostic capacity to reduce delays in case confirmation and support faster response decisions, contact tracing in the DRC, travel restrictions that are disrupting supply chains and hindering the response, community mistrust, and the fact that there are currently no licensed vaccines or specific therapeutics for the Bundibugyo ebolavirus strain.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, recently visited DRC to express solidarity and assess Ebola response.
Luku Maleyo Marius, a representative of the DRC Ministry of Health, welcomed the team at the airport, saying that China’s dispatch of the medical experts represents timely and strong support for the Congolese government and people.
Whenever the DRC faces major public health challenges, China has consistently extended timely assistance, he said, adding that he looks forward to the mission further strengthening the country’s epidemic prevention, control and treatment capacities, and helping bring the outbreak under control as soon as possible.
Lu Ming, head of the Chinese expert team, said the team would begin work promptly in line with the Congolese side’s needs and would cooperate with local medical and disease control institutions to provide support in epidemic assessment, case management, and other areas.
He added that the team would work closely with the Congolese side to safeguard people’s lives and health, contributing China’s expertise to helping the DRC control the outbreak at an early stage.
On May 15, the DRC officially confirmed its 17th Ebola outbreak since 1976. Two days later, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
China’s National Health Commission announced on Monday the decision to send a medical expert team to support the DRC’s Ebola control efforts.
According to the commission, the first group consists of five members with extensive experience in epidemic control. They will also share practical response experience tailored to local conditions and help enhance the DRC’s capacity for Ebola prevention, control and treatment.
Lu Ming (L), head of the Chinese expert team, talks with Luku Maleyo Marius, a representative of the Ministry of Health of Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in Kinshasa, capital of the DRC, June 2, 2026.Members of a Chinese anti-epidemic medical expert team arrive in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), June 2, 2026. A Chinese anti-epidemic medical expert team arrived in Kinshasa on Tuesday for a three-month mission to support the Central African country’s response to the Ebola outbreak. (Xinhua)
The decline came after many previously listed suspected cases were tested and ruled out, World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said Tuesday.
A DRC health ministry report released on May 27 said the country had recorded 1,077 suspected Ebola cases as of May 26.
Lindmeier told reporters that during the outbreak, anyone identified through surveillance or seeking treatment at a healthcare facility with Ebola-like symptoms is initially considered a suspected case until testing confirms otherwise. After laboratory tests, many of those cases were ruled out, with some found to be malaria, meningitis or other unrelated illnesses, he said.
According to the latest DRC health ministry update, as of Monday, the country had reported more than 340 confirmed Ebola cases, including 60 deaths. A total of six patients have recovered, up by one from the previous day, while 173 suspected cases are in isolation.
The WHO declared the Ebola outbreak in the DRC a public health emergency of international concern on May 17. The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, for which there is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment.
Medical officers sanitise areas in Ebola-prone areas in the DRC.
In a statement released on June 1, AFC/M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka accused the Congolese army and allied armed groups of carrying out repeated attacks throughout May in several areas, including Masisi, Minembwe, Numbi and Walikale.
Kanyuka claimed that the DRC government is continuing to deploy troops, weapons and military equipment, particularly in South Kivu Province, in what he described as preparations for large-scale operations targeting both civilian-populated areas and AFC/M23-controlled territory.
He said any new offensive against the group’s positions would be met with a strong response.
According to Kanyuka, AFC/M23 would not only defend areas under its control but would also seek to push back government forces from locations used to launch attacks. He argued that such a move would help create a buffer zone aimed at protecting civilians and their property from future hostilities.
The warning comes days after AFC/M23 reported clashes with Congolese army troops and Wazalendo militia fighters in Masisi Territory.
The group said it had repelled advancing forces and pushed them away from the strategic mining hub of Rubaya after attempts to move closer to the area.
AFC/M23 also sought to reassure residents of Rubaya and neighbouring localities, including Kinigi, saying it remained prepared to protect communities under its control. The group urged residents to continue their daily activities despite the security concerns.
Kanyuka said AFC/M23 would not only defend areas under its control but would also seek to push back government forces from locations used to launch attacks. AFC/M23 has reassured residents , saying it remained prepared to protect communities under its control.
Dr. Freddy Kaniki Rukema, who heads the AFC/M23 Ebola response team, said the situation in the city of Goma remains stable, with no new confirmed infections reported since the first case was detected on May 17. However, health authorities are investigating one suspected case.
According to Dr. Kaniki, health teams have identified 255 people who came into contact with the confirmed Ebola patient in Goma. Of these, 217 were classified as high-risk contacts and have been placed under a mandatory 21-day quarantine period in line with public health protocols, while the remaining 38 are being monitored through routine surveillance.
Three additional Ebola cases were reported in Murhesa, an area located in Kabare Territory in South Kivu Province. Dr. Kaniki said the outbreak was traced to a 26-year-old man who had recently travelled from Ituri Province and subsequently transmitted the virus to his wife and brother-in-law.
Health officials have so far identified 152 contacts linked to the Murhesa cases. Among them, 96 were deemed high-risk and placed in quarantine, while 56 others remain under observation.
AFC/M23 said laboratories capable of diagnosing Ebola are now operational in both Goma and Bukavu, adding that plans are underway to expand testing services to other areas under its administration.
“In the last 24 hours, we have tested 12 samples, with results available within six hours of collection,” Dr. Kaniki said. “This rapid turnaround supports early detection, timely patient management, and effective outbreak containment measures.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has indicated that the strain currently circulating in the DRC belongs to the Bundibugyo species of the Ebola virus. While no licensed vaccine or specific treatment currently exists for this strain, supportive care can significantly improve patient outcomes.
Dr. Kaniki said AFC/M23 has opted to administer Remdesivir to both confirmed patients and high-risk contacts, citing research conducted on Ebola, COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. The antiviral drug is expected to help reduce the risk of severe illness and death.
The coalition further announced that it has secured 500 doses of Remdesivir, which are set to be deployed in hospitals in Goma and Bukavu, where Ebola cases have been recorded.
Dr. Freddy Kaniki Rukema, who heads the AFC/M23 Ebola response team, said the situation in the city of Goma remains stable, with no new confirmed infections reported since the first case was detected on May 17. AFC/M23 has intensified its Ebola response efforts since the virus was detected in areas under its control.
Mutayomba, who operates within the FDLR’s Nyatura faction in North Kivu, was injured during intense clashes around Rubaya, a strategically important mining area that has repeatedly been the scene of heavy fighting between AFC/M23, Congolese government forces, and allied armed groups.
Initial reports had indicated that the commander had been killed, but subsequent information confirmed that he survived and was evacuated to Kinshasa, where he is currently receiving medical treatment.
The circumstances surrounding the fighting remain fluid, but Rubaya has become a focal point of military operations in recent months due to its mineral wealth and strategic location. The area has seen escalating violence involving multiple armed actors competing for control.
Mutayomba is said to have played a key role in operations targeting Banyamulenge and other Congolese Tutsi communities in eastern DR Congo, accusations that have long been associated with FDLR-linked activities in the region.
The FDLR, formed by individuals linked to the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, has operated in eastern DR Congo for decades. It has repeatedly been accused of cross-border attacks into Rwanda and of promoting anti-Tutsi ideology and violence in the region.
Reports further indicate that Mutayomba is a Rwandan national who fled to DR Congo after the genocide and later rose through the ranks of armed groups active in North Kivu. His brother, Nzima, who reportedly fought alongside him, was killed earlier in January 2025.
Reacting to the reports, North Kivu Vice Governor Willy Manzi described Mutayomba as a commander whose activities had caused widespread suffering. He accused him of overseeing killings, looting, and destruction of property in Masisi, including the burning of villages and displacement of civilians.
“Mutayomba’s legacy is one of destruction. He killed civilians, looted communities, slaughtered livestock belonging to the people of Masisi, and reduced homes and entire villages to ashes,” Manzi wrote in a post on X, on Sunday.
Manzi also criticized what he called the continued protection and support allegedly extended to the militia leader, adding that Mutayomba was not a trained military officer but had risen from mining areas to become a self-styled commander within the FDLR structure.
Mutayomba (centre), who operates within the FDLR’s Nyatura faction in North Kivu, was injured during intense clashes around Rubaya.
