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Middle East crisis live: Pakistan hopes to host US-Iran peace talks ‘very soon’, says PM, after Trump claims Tehran deal ‘largely negotiated’

The draft agreement between the US and Iran also makes clear the Israel- Hezbollah war in Lebanon would end, Axios is reporting. The newsite quotes an unnamed Israeli official as saying Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed concern about that condition – and other aspects of the deal – during a call with Donald Trump on Saturday. The report went on: The US official said it would not be a ‘one-sided ceasefire’ and if Hezbollah tried to rearm or instigate attacks, Israel would be allowed to take action to prevent it. ‘If Hezbollah behaves, Israel will behave.’” As just mentioned, the report says the agreement is only in unfinalised draft form and “could still fall apart”, according to a US official.

Trump claims peace deal with Iran ‘largely negotiated’ with strait of Hormuz to open

Donald Trump claimed on Saturday that a peace deal with Iran “has been largely negotiated”, after calls with a Pakistani mediator, Gulf allies and Israel, potentially paving the way for an end to the war launched by the US and Israel in February. Trump wrote on his social media platform that “final aspects and details” of a “memorandum of understanding” were still being discussed and “will be announced shortly”, but said the strait of Hormuz would be opened as part of the deal. “An agreement has been largely negotiated, subject to finalization between the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the various other Countries,” Trump posted. However, Iran’s Fars news agency, which is close to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported that the strait of Hormuz would remain under Iranian control, a red line for the US. The news agency reported on Telegram that “the management of the Strait, determining the route, time, method of passage, and issuing permits will continue to be the monopoly and discretion of the Islamic Republic of Iran”. It said Trump’s assertion that an agreement was nearly final was “inconsistent with reality”. Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, later congratulated Trump on his peace efforts and said Pakistan hoped to host another round of talks between the US and Iran “very soon”. Sharif described the US president’s call with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Egypt, the UAE, Jordan and Pakistan as “very useful and productive”, adding: “Pakistan will continue its peace efforts with utmost sincerity and we hope to host the next round of talks very soon.” Pakistan’s army chief, Syed Asim Munir, is a key figure in the negotiations and has held meetings in Tehran recently with figures such as Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. Trump’s announcement came after a Pakistani source told Reuters that Iran and Pakistan had submitted a revised proposal to the United States to end the war and reopen the strait of Hormuz. A regional official with direct knowledge of the Pakistan-led mediation efforts told the Associated Press earlier on Saturday that the potential deal would include an official declaration of the war’s end, with two-month negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, the opening of the crucial shipping lane by Iran and an end to the US blockade of Iranian ports. Three senior Iranian officials told the New York Times the agreement would stop the fighting in Iran and in Lebanon, and could release $25bn in Iranian assets frozen overseas, with a nuclear agreement to be negotiated within 30 to 60 days. There had been hints before the announcement that indirect talks between the US and Iran had progressed in the past few days. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said during a visit to India that “news” might arrive “later today”, even as Trump continued to threaten striking Iran. In his post, Trump said that he had had phone discussions with many Middle Eastern leaders, including those of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, as well as Pakistan’s army chief Munir, and Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. “Separately, I had a call with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel, which, likewise, went very well,” Trump said. Details of the exact negotiations remain sparse. Trump on Saturday said he’d met with American negotiators, including special envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner, along with JD Vance, to discuss the latest round of proposals. The lead-up to the announcement remained tense, with Trump continuing to threaten strikes. Trump had told CBS and Axios he would only sign a deal “where we get everything we want”, adding that if a deal was not reached, the US would begin striking Iran again. Drop Site News reported late Friday night that the latest proposal submitted to mediators by Iran included the provisional reopening of the strait of Hormuz. However, Iran also requested the US end its blockade of Iranian ports, the release of billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets and a plan to compensate Iran for damages suffered during the war. According to Drop Site’s source, the Iranian proposal included permanently ending the war before negotiating any deal on Tehran’s nuclear program. It is unclear how many of these points were included in the memorandum Trump referred to in his post. News of the potential deal triggered dismay among Republican hawks who had spent years calling for US military action against Iran, and deriding the 2015 deal to limit Iran’s nuclear enrichment in return for sanctions relief negotiated during the Obama administration. Trump withdrew from that international deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in 2018. Mike Pompeo, who served as CIA director and secretary of state during Trump’s first term, denounced the rumored terms of the deal as too close to what Barack Obama’s negotiators had achieved and a boon to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. “The deal being floated with Iran seems straight out of the Wendy Sherman-Robert Malley-Ben Rhodes playbook: Pay the IRGC to build a WMD program and terrorize the world,” Pompeo wrote on social media, referring to Obama’s negotiators. The alternative, Pompeo added, is “straightforward: Open the damned strait. Deny Iran access to money. Take out enough Iranian capability so it cannot threaten our allies in the region.” Malley responded: “Not quite the path Wendy, Ben or I would have taken. But if this deal brings an end to an unlawful, unjustifiable war, to the senseless loss of life and destruction, and to the cascading global economic fallout, I am quite sure we’d willingly accept it over the alternative.” The White House director of communications, Steven Cheung, was somewhat less diplomatic in his response to the former secretary of state. “Mike Pompeo has no idea what the fuck he’s talking about,” Cheung wrote on X. “He should shut his stupid mouth and leave the real work to the professionals. He’s not read into anything that’s happening, so how would he know.” After Republican senator Roger Wicker wrote the “rumored 60-day ceasefire – with the belief that Iran will ever engage in good faith – would be a disaster. Everything accomplished by Operation Epic Fury would be for naught!”, , Rhodes replied: “Nothing was accomplished by Operation Epic Fury except putting the IRGC in charge of Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.”

Gisèle Pelicot tells Hay festival she has found love and trust again after rape ordeal

Gisèle Pelicot has described the moment she fell in love and was able to trust again after her rape ordeal orchestrated by her former husband in France. Pelicot, 73, waived her right to anonymity during the trial of Dominique Pelicot, who was jailed for 20 years in 2024 for drugging and raping her and allowing other men to sexually assault her while she was unconscious, over almost a decade. Speaking at the Hay festival in Wales on Saturday, she said she never thought she could trust a man again before meeting her partner, Jean-Loup Agopian. The campaigner said: “It’s something that I didn’t think could happen, especially at my age, first of all, I didn’t really want to fall in love, but life decided otherwise. “We met, our trajectories crossed at one moment and I met this young man of 73… You see, you can fall in love at any age, it happened to me, it can happen to you, I’m convinced of it. “I didn’t think that I’d be able to trust a man, but it’s what happened to me, so you see that everything can be allowed in life, you must never despair.” Pelicot appeared at the festival to discuss her memoir A Hymn to Life and was interviewed on stage by Lady Kennedy. She said that “society has got to wake up” on the issue of violence against women, and that it’s an “appalling evil that touches all borders”. “I thought that my story only related to me, but I realised that, in fact, it was really the tree that hid the forest,” she continued. Yet, she feels “serene” about the future for women, because “I think that we can all live together in harmony, men and women, and I think it’s a question of educating our children very young”. “Maybe I’m a very optimistic person by nature, but I would hope that the human being will go towards peace and love.” Last month, French authorities launched an investigation into the reappearance of a website Dominique Pelicot used to recruit dozens of strangers to rape his wife in their home between 2011 and 2020. Authorities said the French-language platform Coco has been linked to crimes, including the sexual abuse of children, rape and murder. The website, which was registered abroad, was shut down in June 2024. Pelicot described it as an “absolute miracle” to be speaking on stage, because “the way in which [Dominique] sedated me, he sedated me so strongly, I’m wondering how my heart and my body was able to hold for so long”. When Pelicot was being unknowingly drugged, people around her wondered whether she was drunk or unwell. “My children and my friends were very worried for me, because very often when I was on the phone with them, I often repeated the same things, but I don’t remember that at all.” Pelicot described taking years to decide to waive her right to anonymity. When her decision was announced in court in front of the 51 men who were ultimately declared guilty of rape and their lawyers, she realised they were going to “make me pay for it very dearly, and that’s what happened, they really tried to humiliate me”. Pelicot’s daughter, Caroline Darian, is also pursuing legal action against Dominique Pelicot. Among the images in his possession were two photos of his daughter in which she is unconscious on a bed wearing underwear that is not her own. Pelicot said she believed there had been “an incestuous attitude towards his daughter that was intolerable”. She said Darian “didn’t find justice” during Pelicot’s case, and that she hopes her daughter will win her own case, in order to “rebuild herself”. Pelicot also praised Darian’s advocacy group M’endors pas, which campaigns against chemical submission. She invited her onstage, and said that she was “really proud” to be her mother. • Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

Trump to meet with US negotiators to decide on Iran’s ceasefire proposal

Donald Trump said he would meet today with American negotiators to review Iran’s latest proposal and decide by Sunday whether he will strike Iran “to kingdom come”. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, also told reporters in India on Saturday that “there may be news later today” about Iran. He did not specify what that news would be. Trump told Axios it was a “solid 50/50” on whether he would be able to make a “good” deal with Iran or begin striking the country anew. He will be meeting with special envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner, along with JD Vance. Trump is also expected to meet with Gulf mediators, to discuss the situation with Iran. Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish leaders are expected to participate in the talks. A Pakistani security official said a memorandum of understanding is being “fine tuned” to end the war, Reuters reports. Trump’s interview with Axios comes as Iran’s top negotiator said earlier on Saturday there will be no compromise over its national rights during a meeting with the Pakistani army chief in Tehran on Saturday. In the past few days, there has been a flurry of diplomacy aimed at preventing renewed US strikes on Iran and potentially extending the ceasefire. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, said Tehran would secure its “legitimate rights”, whether through the battlefield or through negotiations, while accusing the US of not being an honest negotiating partner, Iranian state media reported. “If Trump acts foolishly and the war resumes, the response against the United States will certainly be more crushing and bitter than on the first day of the war,” Ghalibaf said during the meeting. He added that the Iranian military had rebuilt its capabilities during the ceasefire that began in early April. His comments came amid reports that the US was considering fresh strikes on Iran as negotiations for an enduring truce between the two countries sputtered. The Trump administration was preparing for a renewed round of strikes, CBS News reported on Friday, citing informed sources. Trump has frequently threatened to strike Iran if it does not reach a deal with the US, though military analysts have expressed doubt that a renewed aerial campaign could tip the balance in Washington’s favour. Amid the escalated rhetoric from both sides, Iranian state TV reported that Iran was in the “final stage” of drafting a framework for a deal with the US. Pakistan, which has been mediating talks between Iran and the US, has led a renewed push in recent days to bridge the gap between the two parties. Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, also met Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, and foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, on Saturday, before leaving Tehran. The talks reportedly focused on a 14-point peace proposal by Iran, as well as messages between the two parties. A Qatari delegation met with Iranian and Pakistani mediators in Iran on Friday, and on Saturday, Trump spoke with the Qatari emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, to discuss “regional and international efforts to stabilise the ceasefire”, according to a statement by Tamim’s office. A ceasefire between the US and Israel, and Iran, has been in place since early April after more than a month of war. The truce was meant not only to stop fighting, but also to give space for negotiations over reopening the strait of Hormuz – a chokepoint for about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies – as well as Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programme. Talks have largely not progressed and the strait remains mostly closed, despite the ceasefire and mediation efforts. On Saturday, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, expressed cautious optimism for negotiations. “There’s been some progress done, some progress made. Even as I speak to you now, there’s some work being done,” Rubio told reporters in New Delhi during a visit to India. “There might be some news a little later today. There may not be. I hope there will be.” It is unclear what “news” Rubio was referring to. Mediators on Saturday said they believe they were close to extending the ceasefire by 60 days and set a framework for talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme, the Financial Times reported, citing people briefed on the talks. Iran’s official IRNA news agency meanwhile quoted the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei as saying that positions had moved closer in recent days. Trump met the US secretary of defence, Pete Hegseth, in the White House on Friday reportedly to review options for restarting the bombing campaign. Trump also announced that he would be skipping his son’s wedding this weekend for reasons “pertaining to the government”. It is unclear what the target of a renewed bombing campaign would be. In the past, Trump threatened to wipe out “a whole civilisation”, and targeted civilian infrastructure such as bridges. Israel had also attacked energy facilities, and strikes damaged desalination facilities during the war in March. Human rights groups have criticised the attacks on civilian infrastructure, saying that attacks against public infrastructure could be considered war crimes for their impact on civilians. Sites that hold Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which has been a key point in negotiations, could be targeted, but those facilities and other nuclear sites are probably deep underground and would require complex operations using tons of bunker-buster bombs. Iranian stockpiles of drones, ballistic missiles and missile-launching sites could also be targets, as they were in the last round of conflict. Targeted assassinations of Iranian officials could also be on the table. Analysts, however, have warned that the US is in an even more vulnerable position than it was at the beginning of the Iran war. The Washington Post revealed that the US had depleted much of its stockpile of advanced missile-defence interceptors, a key munition it needs to defend its bases and allies in the Middle East. Much of the US public is against the war and is frustrated with soaring gas prices and inflation that have occurred as a result of the closure of the strait of Hormuz. Trump’s popularity has declined, with an approval rating of about 37% – a historic low. It is also unclear how much the US actually achieved in the first round of conflict. The Iranian leadership remains in place, and intelligence assessments indicate that as much as 60% of Iran’s missile and drone stockpile remains.

China mine death toll at least 82 after gas blast

At least 82 people have been killed in a gas explosion at a coalmine in northern China’s Shanxi province, in the country’s worst mining disaster in 17 years. The explosion happened on Friday at 7.29pm (12.29 BST) while 247 workers were underground at the Liushenyu coalmine in Qinyuan county, the state media agency Xinhua reported. The cause of the accident is yet to be confirmed, but according to Xinhua, local authorities were initially alerted after an underground carbon monoxide sensor in the mine – operated by the Tongzhou Group – was triggered. Carbon monoxide is a highly toxic, odourless gas. Chinese authorities said late on Saturday that preliminary findings showed the coalmine’s company had committed “serious illegal violations”, state media reported. One injured survivor, Wang Yong, recalled seeing a “puff of smoke”, smelling sulphur and seeing people choking before he lost consciousness.“I laid down for about an hour and woke up by myself. I called the people next to me and we got out of the mine together,” Wang told the state media broadcaster CCTV. State media reported earlier that the government was launching “a rigorous and uncompromising investigation” and that “those found responsible will be severely punished in accordance with laws and regulations”. At least 123 people, four in a critical or severe condition, were taken to hospital to receive treatment, according to CCTV. Thirty-three had returned home as of 2pm on Saturday. Footage published by CCTV showed helmeted rescuers carrying stretchers at the site, with ambulances visible in the background. Rescue efforts are ongoing, with a total of 755 emergency and medical personnel dispatched to the site. The mining disaster is the deadliest reported in China since 2009, when an explosion at a mine in north-eastern Heilongjiang province killed more than 100. China has significantly reduced coalmine fatalities – often caused by gas explosions or flooding – since the early 2000s by imposing more stringent regulations and safer practices. But major accidents still occur, including in 2023, when a collapse at an open-pit coalmine in northern Inner Mongolia killed 53 people. In 2020, 23 people were killed after being trapped in a mine with elevated levels of carbon monoxide in China’s south-western city of Chongqing. Shanxi, one of China’s poorer provinces, is the centre of the country’s coalmining industry, contributing almost a third of its raw coal output. The president, Xi Jinping, called for authorities to “spare no effort” in treating the injured and conducting search and rescue operations, while ordering an investigation into the cause of the accident and who was accountable. Xi also “emphasised that all regions and departments must draw lessons from this accident, remain constantly vigilant regarding workplace safety … and resolutely prevent and curb the occurrence of major and catastrophic accidents”. The premier, Li Qiang, echoed the instructions, calling for timely and accurate release of information and rigorous accountability. According to Xinhua, authorities have already placed at least one person “responsible for” the company involved in the explosion “under control in accordance with the law”. The definitive cause of the accident is under investigation, according to Qinyuan’s local emergency management authority. In 2024, the Liushenyu mine was one of 1,128 cited by China’s national mine safety administration for “severe safety hazards”, with the regulator specifically raising the alarm about the presence of high gas levels. When publishing its findings, it called on provincial authorities to “urge severely disaster-prone coalmines to implement measures for regional disaster management”. Agence France-Presse contributed to this report

White House pauses removal of detainees to DRC as Ebola outbreak widens

The Trump administration will temporarily pause the removal of refugees to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during a spiraling Ebola outbreak, according to reporting by Politico, but experts say the move won’t help prevent the spread of the disease. At least one woman is now in limbo after officials moved her to Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, and now say they won’t bring her back because of the Ebola travel ban – despite a judge’s order for her return. Adriana Zapata, 55, fled Colombia to the US, but she was sent to Kinshasa over a month ago – even though the DRC said it could not care for her complex medical needs. A US judge ordered her return to the US, but American officials are saying they cannot bring her back because of the travel ban instituted on Monday. “I’m just really worried about losing her,” Zapata’s lawyer, Lauren O’Neal, told the Gothamist. “I don’t want her to die before we can get her back here.” Immigration agents could come into contact with the virus during the trips, and the virus could spread closer to the US because of Trump’s immigration tactics, unnamed officials told Politico. Yet they said the decision is at least partly motivated by legal concerns – that removal to a third country with an active Ebola outbreak could be used in an immigrant’s defense. “By the government’s own logic, if it is not safe for people to come from there to here, it is equally unsafe to send people there,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International and the top Ebola response official at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) during the 2014-15 outbreak. As long as the US has a ban on travelers from the DRC, Uganda and South Sudan, “on what grounds could it possibly be safe to deport people there?” Konyndyk asked. It’s not clear what happens next to refugees who were already moved against their will to countries affected by or near the outbreak. At least 37 people have been moved to these countries in recent months, according to Gillian Brockell, an independent journalist who tracks third-country removals by the US. Brockell suspects US officials are using the travel ban as an excuse to not return Zapata. Sending people in detention centers to African nations far from home is a common threat, Brockell said, “so to publicly take one of their main scare tactics off the table, they are only going to do that if it helps them in some way”. The US government has evacuated people from Ebola-affected regions before – including patients with active Ebola cases. One of the world’s leading experts on high-risk medical evacuations, the former state department official William Walters, is now an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contractor, Brockell pointed out. “The Trump administration could absolutely return Adriana Zapata to the US; telling the judge it can’t be done just isn’t true,” she said. ICE “follows all applicable health and safety guidelines, including those outlined in the US Department of State’s travel advisories, when conducting removal operations”, said a spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). But the DHS did not respond to the Guardian’s questions about Zapata’s return and the agency’s third-country removal plans during the Ebola outbreak, including whether flights to Uganda, South Sudan and Rwanda would continue. Sending immigrants against their will to other countries could risk violating international law, said Camille Mackler, an immigration lawyer: “Basically, the US can’t send people back to where they will be persecuted, so we’re exporting our immigration enforcement.” There are no official numbers, but experts estimate that 8,000 to 15,000 people have been flown to third countries. “We’ve already seen that people who are being detained by immigration are not receiving adequate medical care,” Mackler said. “They’re taking no protections for them, and then not thinking about the ripple effect that can have.” If the outbreak continues expanding, there’s a chance detainees in the affected areas could get sick themselves – and if they were then sent to their countries of origin, they would be bringing the virus to South and Central America, where countries have little experience battling the viral hemorrhagic fever. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says it has plans in place to test and monitor passengers from the region. The US announced on Thursday that all passengers traveling from the DRC, Uganda and South Sudan would be diverted to the Washington-Dulles international airport for screening. “The US is putting in place travel measures to limit risk,” said Satish Pillai, the CDC’s Ebola response lead. Even passengers from places like Kinshasa, with no known Ebola cases, will be monitored because “the outbreak in the affected area continues to expand”, Pillai said at a press conference on Friday. “That is why CDC has initiated entry screening processes, which is a part of an overall broader, layered public health approach, starting with exit screening, airline illness reporting and public health monitoring after arrival,” Pillai said. Measures like these mean it’s very unlikely travelers – including Zapata – will bring Ebola into the United States, said Alexandra Phelan, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. The “proper and equitable process that also protects public health” would be to bring Zapata to the US, per the judge’s order, and have her undergo the same health protocols as returning US citizens and residents at Dulles, Phelan said. That could include quarantine if there has been any high-risk exposure – though that’s “unlikely if she has remained in Kinshasa, which is not a known active transmission location”, Phelan added. “If the Trump administration is serious about countering the spread of Ebola, the US government should restore health-related humanitarian funding it gutted across Africa; designate temporary protected status for the Democratic Republic of [the] Congo, Uganda and South Sudan; and halt all deportation flights to the region – including flights involving Latin Americans and other third-country nationals,” said Yael Schacher, director for the Americas and Europe at Refugees International.

‘Every health facility said they were full’: alarm over rapid spread of Ebola in DRC

The warnings from aid groups and healthcare workers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been stark, their calls for coordinated international action impassioned. As the country reels from the return of the Ebola virus, there is growing concern that its fragile healthcare system will struggle to cope with an outbreak that experts say goes well beyond the number of confirmed cases. “The speed at which this Ebola outbreak is spreading is deeply worrying,” said Rose Tchwenko, the DRC country director at the NGO Mercy Corps. “The risk of wider spread is real, and more regional and global support is urgently needed.” Hama Amado, a field coordinator in the city of Bunia for the Alima aid group, said the virus was gaining momentum and spreading in many areas. “Everyone must mobilise,” he told Associated Press on Thursday. “We are still far from saying that the situation is under control.” It has been a week since the DRC reported its 17th outbreak of Ebola, a viral disease with a mortality rate of between 25% and 90% that is spread through body fluids or contaminated materials and causes organ damage, blood vessel impairment and sometimes severe internal and external bleeding. Nearly 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths have been recorded since the first known victim died in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province in north-western DRC, on 24 April. Mourners touched him during a funeral in the nearby town of Mongbwalu, contributing to the spread of the virus. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities have quickly become overwhelmed. Trish Newport, an emergency programme manager at Médecins Sans Frontières, said a team had identified suspected cases over the weekend at Bunia’s Salama hospital but found no available isolation ward in the area. “Every health facility they called said: ‘We’re full of suspect cases. We don’t have any space,’” she said on social media. “This gives you a vision of how crazy it is right now.” *** Several factors are impeding the aid response, including the strain of the virus, for which there is no approved treatment or vaccine; the remote and conflict-scarred location of the outbreak; and local funeral customs which are at odds with strict disease-control practice. All this is set against the backdrop of big shortfalls in aid budgets, driven largely by the Trump administration’s cuts to foreign aid. According to a study by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) this year, more than half of health facilities surveyed in North and South Kivu provinces – where cases have also been reported – were damaged or destroyed, and nearly half had reported significant staff departures since January 2025 owing to conflict and insecurity. Two incidents this week laid bare some of the aggravating factors. On Tuesday, at least 17 people were killed in an attack by the Allied Democratic Forces, a militant group operating in eastern DRC and parts of Uganda, on several villages near the town of Mambasa, in Ituri. “We are facing a double war: one of weapons and another of the disease outbreak,” said Zawadi Jeanne, a woman from the town who lost her brother and uncle in an ADF attack last month. On Thursday, a crowd set fire to a treatment centre in Rwampara, near Bunia, after authorities refused to give them the body of a victim they wanted to bury themselves. The burial of bodies, which can be highly contagious, is handled by authorities for containment of the disease, but some families prefer traditional burials, which involve washing and touching the body. In previous outbreaks this has proven to be a key driver of the disease’s spread. Batakura Zamundu Mugeni, a customary chief who was at the scene in Rwampara, told Agence France-Presse that authorities were working with health officials to track down any patients who may have fled, as well as contact cases. He blamed the unrest on “young people who do not grasp the reality of the disease”. On Friday, the province banned funeral wakes and said burials must be conducted only by specialised teams. It also prohibited the transport of dead bodies by non-medical vehicles and limited public gatherings to a maximum of 50 people. Instructions to avoid physical contact more generally are hampered by a strong culture of expressing affection through touch. “We live in a society where shaking hands is on the menu every day,” said Jackson Lubula, who lives in Bunia. “With this disease, anything is possible. A small mistake can cost you dearly, so I decided to wash my hands with soap every time after each greeting.” Reports from across the affected areas add to the impression that the virus has been spreading unnoticed. A rapid needs assessment by ActionAid in the Bunia, Nizi and Nyankunde areas found nearly a third of schools had registered at least one suspected Ebola case or close contact. On Saturday, the Red Cross said three of its volunteers who died this month were believed to have contracted the virus as long ago as 27 March while carrying out dead body management as part of an unrelated humanitarian mission. People in Rwampara said the disease struck suddenly, and that early symptoms were mistaken for illnesses such as malaria. Botwine Swanze, whose son died, told a reporter for Associated Press: “He told me his heart was hurting. Then he started crying because of the pain. Then he started bleeding and vomiting a lot.” *** Dr Núria Carrera Graño, a clinician with ICRC who has provided services in two previous Ebola outbreaks, described the situation in the DRC as a humanitarian, political and security crisis resulting from cumulative and unfortunate events. She said responders should learn from past outbreaks about the importance of international cooperation and coordination. “We don’t have time to lose,” she said. To control the outbreak, the DRC government is working with medics including those who have experience in handling the disease. Dr Richard Kojan, an intensive care clinician with Alima who has provided services in several Ebola outbreaks, said there were many similarities between them, such as late discovery, insufficient resources to respond, and the lack of a vaccine at the outset. “The outbreak is out of control,” he said from Kinshasa, the DRC’s capital, this week. In the absence of a vaccine and approved treatment for the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, Kojan said, medics were working to optimise the standard of intensive care for patients and put in place surveillance and contact tracing for suspected cases. “If they are admitted to the treatment centre early, the viral load will be low in their samples, and then, with optimised care, they will have a high probability of surviving,” he said. The Alima team is also deploying a portable treatment unit called Cube, a transparent plastic structure that allows interaction between patients and their relatives and medics without the need to wear personal protective equipment. Kojan developed the concept after his experience with Ebola in the 2014-16 outbreak. As the virus spreads, increasing numbers of people in Bunia are discovering friends and relatives have fallen victim, fuelling their anxiety. “The mere thought of the name ‘Ebola’ scares me,” said Jeanne, who has a nephew in a health facility in Rwampara. But she remains optimistic. “God is the one who knows what’s ahead,” she said. “I tell myself that the disease will spread but not to an alarming level. We can just hope for the best.”

Côte d’Ivoire wary of jihadist threat in north 10 years on from major attack

These days, when she is not organising the annual International Day of Reggae celebrations in Côte d’Ivoire, Rose Ebirim picks up litter scattered on the beach in the historic port town of Grand Bassam, 25 miles east of Abidjan. Both activities have become a form of therapy since the time she saw someone die. “13 March 2016 was a Black Sunday for me,” she said. On that day, she saw three gunmen open fire at close range as they stalked three adjacent hotels on the beach in a 45-minute shooting spree. By the time security agencies shot the attackers dead, they had killed 19 people including nine foreigners, and traumatised the entire nation. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in retaliation for Côte d’Ivoire arresting its men and handing them over to Mali. It was not until December 2022 that an Abidjan court sentenced 11 men – including seven in absentia – to death for their roles in the attack. “Our forces have strengthened their operational vigilance to ensure that such tragedies never happen again,” the defence minister, Téné Birahima Ouattara, said at a ceremony this March to commemorate the 10th anniversary of what was the first major terrorist incident on Ivorian soil. Grand Bassam, a Unesco world heritage site and the country’s first capital, forms part of a relatively peaceful three-hour drive to the border with Ghana lined with resort towns that once again cater to residents and tourists. But up in the north, on the borders with Mali and Burkina Faso, the threat of jihadism continues to lurk. Both states have expelled French and American troops in recent years after military takeovers, pivoting to stronger partnerships with Russia instead. Côte d’Ivoire, now a key western ally for counterinsurgency in the region, stands as a buffer state between the Gulf of Guinea and the core of the Sahel. The violence in its neighbours has driven thousands of refugees into the country’s north. At the time of the 2016 attack, the insurgency had just emerged in Burkina Faso as a spillover from Mali. Terrorism incidents linked to jihadists have almost tripled in coastal west Africa as armed non-state actors proliferate. Military formations and security personnel in the region have been repeatedly targeted by Al-Qaida-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), which swallowed AQIM. In June 2020, Katiba Macina, another group in the JNIM coalition, killed 14 Ivorian soldiers in the village of Kafolo near the Burkinabé border. The groups are beginning to employ more sophisticated tactics and are adept at carrying out complex raids in a region that is now “the world’s most active zone of Islamist militancy”, said Héni Nsaibia, senior analyst for west Africa at the conflict monitor Acled. “JNIM’s use of armed drones has rapidly proliferated from fewer than 10 recorded strikes in 2024 to around 80 in 2025,” he added. Since the Kafolo attack, the number of policemen and gendarmerie recruited in the Ivorian north has more than doubled. Five years ago, an EU-backed counter-terrorism academy opened in Jacqueville, another beach town west of Abidjan, where elite units are being trained to counter the evolving threat. A spokesperson for the Ivorian government did not respond to questions about the status of talks about a speculated US drone base or American troops sharing an existing airbase with their Ivorian counterparts. Backed by international development funding, the state has also been at work in remote border villages in the north – building primary schools, deploying mobile health clinics and funding vocational micro-loans for young cashew farmers who might otherwise be tempted by the financial promises of militant groups. But its dense forests and porous borders are still cause for concern to citizens and residents. The Ivorian government spokesperson did not also respond to questions about regional and international counterinsurgency collaborations. In Grand Bassam, the three hotels are shuttered. Near them, Ebirim still goes on with awareness about beach pollution and the reggae splash, which is now in its sixth year. “I occupy myself with those activities,” she said. “After 10 years, I’m starting to sort myself out.”