Arson attacks on Ebola treatment centers in eastern Congo show how authorities are faced with a number of serious complications — including a backlash in local communities — as they try to stop an outbreak of an infectious disease that has been declared a global health emergency.
The burning of the centers in two towns at the heart of the outbreak shows the anger in a region beset by violence linked to armed rebel groups, the displacement of a large number of people, the failure of local government and international aid cuts that experts say have stripped health facilities in vulnerable communities.
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Djakisa Christian, 18, a funeral home manager, sits in front of coffins for sale at his shop in Bunia, Congo, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
A sanitation worker from the Bunia city government sprays chlorine to disinfect the central market, as Ituri province continues to combat an Ebola outbreak, in Bunia, Congo, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
Francois Kasereka, a member of the Congo Scouts movement, speaks to people during a public sensitisation campaign amid the Ebola outbreak in Bunia, Congo, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
Flames and smoke rise from an Ebola treatment center in Rwampara, Congo, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Dirole Lotsima Dieudonne)
Sanitation workers from Bunia city government spray disinfectant in the central market area near a rubbish truck in Ituri province, as they continue efforts to combat the Ebola outbreak in Bunia, Congo, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
“A devastating set of emergencies are converging," said the Physicians for Human Rights nonprofit.
Here's a look at the longstanding crises in eastern Congo that have made it home to one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters, and how they are now affecting the response to a rare type of Ebola:
Eastern Congo has seen violence by dozens of separate rebel groups for years, some of them with links to foreign countries or Islamic State.
The Rwanda-backed M23 rebels are in control of parts of the region. While the Congolese government still largely controls the northeastern Ituri Province, which is the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak, that control is tenuous. The Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan Islamist group linked to Islamic State, 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 of the situation in Ituri that the insecurity had worsened recently, causing doctors and nurses to flee and leaving overwhelmed health facilities and “catastrophic” conditions in some parts.
Nearly 1 million people in Ituri have been displaced from their homes by conflict, according to the United Nations humanitarian office.
That means this Ebola outbreak is “unfolding in communities already facing insecurity, displacement and fragile health care systems,” said Gabriela Arenas, Regional Operations Coordinator at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
It's a significant concern that the disease might spread to the large displacement camps near the city of Bunia, where the first cases were reported.
Authorities have announced more than 700 suspected Ebola cases and more than 170 suspected deaths, mostly in Ituri. But cases have been reported in two other eastern provinces, North Kivu and South Kivu, where M23 are in control, and also in the neighboring country of Uganda.
That means that part of the outbreak in Congo is being managed by the government and part by rebel authorities, with an array of aid agencies also helping.
Health experts say international aid cuts last year by the United States and other rich nations were devastating for eastern Congo because it has so many problems.
The cuts “reduced the capacity to detect and respond to infectious disease outbreaks,” said Thomas McHale, public health director at Physicians for Human Rights. Congo has had more than a dozen previous Ebola outbreaks.
Aid groups fighting this outbreak on the ground say they don't have the equipment they need, like face shields and suits to protect health workers from infection, testing kits, and body bags and other materials needed to safely bury the bodies of victims, which can be highly contagious.
“We have made requests to different partners, but we have not yet really received anything,” said Julienne Lusenge, president of Women’s Solidarity for Inclusive Peace and Development, an aid group operating a small hospital near Bunia.
“We only have hand sanitizer and a few masks for the nurses.”
The Bundibugyo type of Ebola virus responsible for the outbreak has no approved vaccine or treatment.
The burning of two treatment centers by people in the Rwampara and Mongbwalu areas — which have the highest case counts — show how a backlash in some communities is further complicating the response.
Colin Thomas-Jensen, director of impact at the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, said the attacks may reflect the “built-in skepticism and anger” of people in eastern Congo over how the region has been treated, with years of violence from foreign-linked rebel groups and a failure of their government and international peacekeepers to protect them, he said.
Another source of anger has been the strict protocols around the burial of suspected victims of Ebola, which authorities are taking charge of wherever they can to prevent further spread of the disease when families prepare the bodies and people gather for a funeral.
The first burning of an Ebola center in Rwampara was by a group of local youths trying to retrieve the body of a friend who died, according to witnesses and police. The witnesses said the crowd accused the foreign aid group operating there of lying about Ebola.
Authorities in northeastern Congo have now banned funeral wakes and gatherings of more than 50 people in an effort to curb the spread, and armed soldiers and police are guarding some burials carried out by aid workers.
AP writers Mark Banchereau and Wilson McMakin contributed to this report.
Djakisa Christian, 18, a funeral home manager, sits in front of coffins for sale at his shop in Bunia, Congo, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
A sanitation worker from the Bunia city government sprays chlorine to disinfect the central market, as Ituri province continues to combat an Ebola outbreak, in Bunia, Congo, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
Francois Kasereka, a member of the Congo Scouts movement, speaks to people during a public sensitisation campaign amid the Ebola outbreak in Bunia, Congo, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
Flames and smoke rise from an Ebola treatment center in Rwampara, Congo, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Dirole Lotsima Dieudonne)
Sanitation workers from Bunia city government spray disinfectant in the central market area near a rubbish truck in Ituri province, as they continue efforts to combat the Ebola outbreak in Bunia, Congo, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
Authorities braced for the possibility that a damaged chemical tank in Southern California could leak or explode as an evacuation order continued into the Memorial Day weekend for 50,000 residents with no timeline on when they can return.
The pressurized tank overheated Thursday and began venting vapors at a company site in Garden Grove, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) south of downtown Los Angeles, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.
No injuries have been reported. Air monitoring tests have so far found that air pollution around the evacuation zone is so far within normal limits, and specialized equipment has been deployed to ensure no gas is released from the compromised tank, state and federal environmental officials said Saturday.
Meanwhile, some Garden Grove residents filed a class-action lawsuit on Saturday against GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems, the company that operates the facility where the tank is located.
Lawyers for residents living in the evacuation zone argued in their federal court lawsuit that regardless of what happens next, property values in the surrounding community are sure to be impacted.
“There is no good outcome here for the people who live nearby,” the lawyers wrote in a statement. “In the best-case scenario, a slow, controlled leak still forces residents out of their homes for an indefinite period, disrupting families, businesses, and daily life. In the worst case, a catastrophic explosion could send a plume and debris across a far wider area, damaging thousands of properties and exposing residents to serious health risks.”
Spokespersons for the company didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Sunday.
Officials said the valves on the tank are broken or “gummed up,” which prevented crews from removing the chemical or relieving the pressure on the tank, said Craig Covey, Orange County Fire Authority division chief.
Firefighters’ first hope is to find a way to cool off the chemical inside the tank so it won’t leak or explode. If that is not possible, Purdue University engineering professor Andrew Whelton said it would be best if the tank sprang a leak so the chemical could be mostly contained. An explosion that could spread the chemical over a broad area and send shrapnel flying would be the worst-case scenario.
If the temperature inside the tank continues to increase, the pressure will continue to build as the methyl methacrylate converts from a liquid to a gas, because officials said the pressure relief valves on the tank were no longer working. Whelton said it’s unlikely that firefighters would consider creating a hole in the tank because of fears that could create a spark that might ignite the volatile and flammable gas.
Drones were monitoring temperatures at 10-minute intervals to watch for any spikes and planning was underway to ensure a possible leak could quickly be prevented from spreading into waterways or the ocean, Covey said in an early evening post on social media platform X.
“Sitting back and allowing these tanks to fail is unacceptable,” Covey said, adding there was no guarantee tanks will not breach and leak. “Our goal is to protect your homes — no damage to them — and protect the environment.”
Efforts to cool the tank appeared to be working Friday, but Covey backtracked the following day, saying a reading conducted by drones actually showed the temperature on the outside of the tank, not the inside.
“Unfortunately I do have to report that the temperature was 90 degrees,” Covey said, up from 77 Fahrenheit (25 Celsius) the previous morning.
Cooling the tank is important because the liquid chemical's flashpoint is 50 Fahrenheit (10 Celsius), according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
Initially people in Garden Grove were ordered to leave. Evacuation orders were then expanded to some parts of five other Orange County cities including Cypress, Stanton, Anaheim, Buena Park and Westminster. Some people with pets planned to sleep in their cars.
Several shelters remained open Saturday, including at three high schools.
Marco Solano, 32, spent Friday night at his parents’ home, frustrated by the situation and monitoring the news to see if he could go home.
“I don’t think that they should have dangerous chemicals in a neighborhood area, especially that dangerous that they have to evacuate people,” Solano said. “But again, it's not up to me. I don’t make the laws. I don’t make the rules. We just have to do what is best I guess.”
Solano, who has multiple jobs, said he felt very tired and weak and believed the stress of the chemical leak was exacerbating his anemia and ulcerative colitis.
“This has been affecting me quite a bit,” he said.
Solano also said he went to his apartment after work Friday to grab belongings and saw other residents who had not evacuated, and he was worried for them.
The damaged tank is located at GKN Aerospace, which makes parts for commercial and military aircraft. It holds 6,000 to 7,000 gallons (22,700 and 26,500 liters) of methyl methacrylate, used to make plastic parts.
Exposure to methyl methacrylate can cause serious respiratory problems and even render someone unconscious. It can also cause neurological problems and irritate the skin, eyes and throat, according to fact sheets about the chemical. But Orange County health officials said the chemical is easy to smell and residents may notice it over a large area without being harmed.
Whelton said the volume of chemical in the tank is much smaller than in the disastrous 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which he studied when more than 115,000 gallons (435,000 liters) of vinyl chloride was released after officials blew open five tank cars and burned the chemical.
“Many of these are acute, fast-acting effects. But the longer somebody stays in contact with it, the more potential for significant damage that occurs,” Whelton said.
If there is an explosion, officials said they expect “severe structural damage and significant harm” in the blast zone closest to the tank.
If an explosion releases the chemical into the air, Whelton said, it will be crucial to conduct detailed air monitoring specifically for methyl methacrylate and not just generic tests for volatile organic compounds as officials did in East Palestine. General tests, often completed with handheld detectors, may not be capable of detecting the chemical. Indoor tests of buildings and homes may also be needed before residents return home.
The weather will be an important factor in determining where a plume of chemicals would go in the event of an explosion. Officials were developing maps to predict different scenarios about which areas would be most affected.
Meanwhile containment barriers have been set up to prevent the chemical from getting into storm drains or reaching creeks or the nearby ocean in the event of a spill, Covey said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Orange County, making state resources available to local agencies and letting state-owned properties and fairgrounds be used for shelters if necessary.
Garden Grove is next to Anaheim, home to Disneyland’s two theme parks, which were not under evacuation orders. Park officials said they were monitoring the incident and supporting employees impacted by evacuations.
GKN agreed to pay state regulators more than $900,000 in 2025 to settle violations involving recordkeeping, permitting issues and nitrogen oxide emissions, according to a report on the South Coast Air Quality Management District website.
Associated Press writers Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, and Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles contributed.
People arrive at Freedom Hall, an evacuation center in Fountain Valley, Calif., after a storage tank containing a chemical used to make plastic parts overheated Thursday at an aerospace plastics facility in Garden Grove, on Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Jill Connelly)
People arrive at Freedom Hall, an evacuation center in Fountain Valley, Calif., after a storage tank containing a chemical used to make plastic parts overheated Thursday at an aerospace plastics facility in Garden Grove, on Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Jill Connelly)
Evacuees from an aerospace chemical plant tank leak move to another shelter after the Garden Grove Sports and Recreation Center closed for the night in Garden Grove, Calif., Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Water is sprayed on a tank that overheated at an aerospace plant in Garden Grove, Calif., Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
