Health workers involved in the Ebola response in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo have staged protests over salaries and allowances they say have gone unpaid for nearly three months, adding pressure to containment efforts already hampered by insecurity and public mistrust.
Dozens of health workers gathered outside Ebola treatment centres in Bunia, Rwampara and Mongbwalu in Ituri province on Sunday and Monday, demanding the immediate payment of outstanding wages and allowances.
Police dispersed demonstrators in Mongbwalu on Monday after the protest disrupted activity outside a hospital, according to local officials and one of the protesters.
“We are facing an unjust situation that seriously jeopardizes the continuation of the response effort,” the workers said in a letter addressed to President Felix Tshisekedi.
Tshisekedi has not publicly responded, while Congo’s Communications Ministry did not reply to a request for comment.
The payment dispute comes as Ebola response teams face repeated security incidents and growing resistance in affected communities.
In Niania, Ituri province, a group of young men briefly prevented a United Nations World Food Programme helicopter from landing on Tuesday and threw objects at an Ebola treatment centre, local civil society leader Samuel Banapia said.
Police fired warning shots to disperse the group.
In neighbouring North Kivu province, social media rumours that health authorities planned to impose a curfew triggered protests in Butembo on Monday, according to Katwa health zone chief Jean Mukoko.
An ambulance sent to collect a suspected Ebola patient was also vandalised in Beni on Saturday, a local health official said.
The outbreak has infected 3,802 people and killed 1,707 since it was declared on May 15, according to government figures released on Monday.
It is now the second-largest Ebola outbreak recorded globally.