Muslim community in DRC celebrates Eid al-Adha amid Ebola outbreak

In Bunia, at the heart of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's ongoing Ebola outbreak, Muslims gathered on Wednesday morning to observe Eid al-Adha.

Muslims are a minority in the country, but higher populations of Muslims are mostly in the eastern part of the country.

Volunteers wearing vests stood on the outskirts of the crowd, directing people to wash their hands at hand washing stations. Some of those praying wore masks.

Zule Abdullah said she was grateful to be able to gather to pray today, as is tradition on the Eid holidays.

“People are dying, but we thank God for his strength that has allowed us to reach this day of prayer, because this epidemic is serious. People are finding it difficult to pray,” she told The Associated Press.

WHO (World Health Organization) said the outbreak poses a “very high” risk for Congo.

The virus spread for weeks undetected, as authorities were testing for the more common Zaire Ebola virus.

But this outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, for which there is no vaccine and no treatment, further complicating efforts to contain it.

As she sat among rows of other women who had come to pray, Saidati Waga said she hoped her prayers would help bring a solution to the Ebola epidemic.

“God says that he has already foreseen everything, and we know that epidemics are here and will always be here,” she said, touching on the disbelief that some have towards the outbreak. “Those who do not accept that the epidemic is real are those who do not know.”

Health authorities have faced pushback from the community, with two of the three Ebola treatment centers set up by aid agencies having been burned by the population last week.

In Mongbwalu, local residents stormed the hospital on Sunday night to demand the bodies of their loved ones.

Alimu Yusufu is an imam and the Ituri representative of the Islamic Community in Congo (COMICO).

He said observations of this holiday have been dampened by the ongoing outbreak.

“To be honest, today’s Eid is not being celebrated as usual. Because every celebration is a joy for Muslims, they gather in one place to pray and visit each other, but given the Ebola outbreak, there is a decrease in the excitement of the celebration.”

The outbreak is occurring mostly in Ituri Province, home to the three hardest-hit towns of Bunia, Rwampara and Mongbwalu.

The region has for years seen attacks by dozens of separate rebel and militant groups, some of them with links to foreign countries or the extremist Islamic State group.

The Rwanda-backed M23 rebels are in control of parts of eastern Congo further south.

While the Congolese government still largely controls the northeastern Ituri Province, the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak, that control is tenuous.

The Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan Islamist group linked to IS, is one of the dominant rebel groups there and responsible for violent attacks against civilian targets.

Before the outbreak, Doctors Without Borders said in an assessment that the insecurity in Ituri had worsened recently, causing doctors and nurses to flee.