Generational Dynamics World View

[John J. Xenakis]

** 17-Jun-2019 World View: Tribal violence surges in DR Congo's Ebola region

The World Health Organization (WHO) has decided that it's not yet the
time to declare a "global health emergency" over the Ebola outbreak in
eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in North Kivu and Ituri
provinces. The numbers of Ebola cases and deaths continue to grow,
but Ebola is still confined to the two DRC provinces, and has not
threatened other countries.

There was a Ugandan family that attended a DRC funeral and contracted
Ebola before returning to Uganda, but they were transported back to
DRC, so there are no longer any confirmed cases of Ebola in Uganda.

Over the weekend, there were stories of a woman in Kenya, having
traveled from the DRC-Uganda border, who was suffering from
hemorrhagic fever who was suspected of having contracted Ebola, but
those stories turned out to be a false alarm.

The main obstacle that WHO and other medical NGOs have faced is that
the Ebola outbreak is occurring in a tribal war zone, involving a
number of warring tribes. These tribal fighters prevent the medical
workers from doing their jobs, and the medical workers are sometimes
even attacked and killed by tribal fighters.

The tribal warfare surged again during the last two weeks in Ituri
province. The Lendu and Hema tribes had a surge of warfare, with the
result that 40 villages were burned to the group, and more than
100,000 people were forced to flee the violence. On Friday and
Saturday alone, 6,000 people arrived at a single refugee camp.

• Refugee camp in Ituri province, DRC. UN refugee camps are at
  over 100% of capacity.

In the current resurgence of Lendu-Hema violence, there have been 161
bodies found so far in one location, following 200 bodies found last
week in another location.

Ituri province is rich in gold and diamonds. The Lendu and Hema
tribes fought a major tribal war from 1999-2007, resulting in an
estimated 50,000 deaths. Violence is growing again during the
generational Awakening era.

• Map of Ituri province showing locations of Ebola
  cases

Ituri is a very large province. There's no good news in this
situation, but the only thing that comes close is that the new
resurgence of violence occurred in Bunia, which is in the farthest
northeast region of Ituri province, far from the major sites of the
Ebola outbreak, which are in central Ituri.

One of the interesting things about the media coverage of the conflict
is that the media are regularly referring to the Hema as cattle
herders and the Lendu as farmers. I've been writing about the
conflict between herders and farmers for years -- in Darfur, in South
Sudan, in Nigeria, in Central African Republic, in Mali, and so forth
-- but this is the first time I've seen the mainstream media emphasize
it.

I have the feeling that this farmer vs herder violence is surging in a
number of different places, and that most of the countries in the
northern portion of black Africa are forming some kind of giant
conflict, that could grow over the next few years, and become
especially serious because of the Ebola outbreak. This is just a
feeling that I can't (yet) back up with figures, but there's
definitely something going on.


----- Sources:

-- Ebola outbreak in Congo still not a public health emergency of
international concern
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/14/health/eb...index.html
(CNN, 14-Jun-2019)


-- Ebola virus disease – Democratic Republic of the Congo: Disease
outbreak news, 13 June 2019
https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-...utbreak-54
(ReliefWeb, 13-Jun-2019)

-- Epidemiological update: Ebola virus disease outbreak in North Kivu
and Ituri Provinces, Democratic Republic of the Congo
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/news-event...-disease-o
(European CDC, 13-Jun-2019)


-- Ituri / Fighting kills at least 50 eastern DR Congo: governor
https://www.modernghana.com/news/938812/...ernor.html
(AP, 14-Jun-2019)

-- Kenya patient free of Ebola, as Congo, Uganda fight outbreak
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/...s-63756299
(AP, 17-Jun-2019)

-- Uganda steps up Ebola testing
http://en.rfi.fr/africa/20190617-Uganda-...a-Tanzania
(RFI/Reuters, 17-Jun-2019)

-- Ituri / At Least 161 Dead in Northeast Congo in Apparent Ethnic
Clashes
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articl...ic-clashes
(USNews/Reuters, 17-Jun-2019)

---- Related:


*** 13-Jun-2019 Ebola spreads from DR Congo to Uganda
http://gdxforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?...057#p46057

** 29-Dec-18 World View -- DR Congo in election chaos, as Ebola continues to spread
** http://www.generationaldynamics.com/pg/x...tm#e181229