Congolese anti-Ebola fighter killed in home attack

Assailants stabbed Papy Mumbere Mahamba, 35, and wounded his wife before burning down their home in Lwemba town.

A radio host who helped spread the word in the fight against Ebola was stabbed to death at his home in the northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo, the army said on Sunday.

The motive for the murder in the town of Lwemba in the troubled Ituri region was unknown, but it came as health authorities were set to introduce a new vaccine against the disease in unaffected areas.

The attackers killed 35-year-old Papy Mumbere Mahamba and wounded his wife before burning down their home late on Saturday, General Robert Yav, the commander of Congolese army forces in the Ituri town of Mambasa, told AFP news agency.

Professor Steve Ahuka, the national coordinator of the fight against Ebola, confirmed a local worker in Lwemba had been killed.

A journalist at Radio Lwemba, the local radio station where Mahamba worked, also confirmed the details.

“Our colleague Papy Mumbere Mahamba was killed at his home by unknown attackers” who stabbed him to death, Jacques Kamwina.

The Observatory for Press Freedom in Africa (OLPA), based in the DRC, called on the Ituri authorities to conduct a “serious investigation” into the killing.

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