Ebola Response Becomes Eastern Congo Rebels’ New Battleground for Legitimacy

As the Eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo battles a worsening Ebola outbreak, the AFC/M23 rebel group is turning the public health emergency into a political opportunity, using its response to the virus to strengthen its claim that it can govern territory under its control more effectively than the government in Kinshasa.

The rebel group, which seized large parts of North and South Kivu during its 2025 offensive, has built a parallel Ebola response beyond treating patients. It has established health coordination structures, monitored hundreds of contacts, overseen laboratory testing, enforced quarantines and produced social media campaigns showing officials inspecting laboratories and meeting health workers. The strategy reflects a broader effort to present AFC/M23 not just as an armed movement, but as a functioning administration capable of delivering public services.

The group’s health officials say the strategy has yielded results. Following four confirmed Ebola cases in rebel-held territory after the outbreak was declared in May, AFC/M23 announced last month that transmission had ended in areas under its control after a 21-day monitoring period without recording any new infections. The rebels say nearly all identified contacts received daily follow-up, contrasting their response with government-controlled areas, where the outbreak has continued to spread.

The outbreak has become the latest arena in the struggle for political legitimacy between the rebels and the Congolese government. AFC/M23 is using the crisis to reinforce its image as a credible governing authority, particularly after months of expanding civilian administrative structures across occupied territory. Activities traditionally associated with state institutions, such as disease surveillance, laboratory management, and public health coordination, have become part of the group’s campaign to demonstrate competence and win public trust. However, experts caution that the rebels have so far faced a relatively limited test. Their territory has recorded only a handful of Ebola cases compared with government-held regions, where infections have climbed into the thousands and spread into additional provinces. The differing scale of the outbreaks makes direct comparisons difficult.

The fragmented response has also raised concerns among humanitarian organisations. Health operations in rebel-held areas are largely managed independent of the national government, with cooperation limited mostly to sharing surveillance data and laboratory testing. Aid agencies have acted as intermediaries to keep information flowing between both sides, but experts warn that parallel health systems could complicate containment efforts if the outbreak expands into conflict zones.

Without support from Kinshasa, AFC/M23 has relied heavily on neighbouring Rwanda for medicines, protective equipment, and technical expertise. Response documents show Rwandan institutions have supplied medical materials and deployed specialists in surveillance, laboratory work, logistics and safe burial practices to assist operations in Goma. Despite the rebels’ efforts to project administrative effectiveness, the response remains constrained by shortages of protective equipment, testing supplies, vehicles, and fuel. The continued closure of Goma’s airport and disruptions to banking services in rebel-held areas have further complicated the movement of personnel, funding and humanitarian supplies.

Congolese officials have pushed back against the narrative that the rebels are successfully managing the outbreak. Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner has argued that neither AFC/M23 nor Rwanda has the capacity to lead an emergency response of this scale, maintaining that continued conflict and restricted humanitarian access undermine efforts to contain the virus. Government officials have also questioned the reliability of health data emerging from rebel-held territory, where independent monitoring remains extremely limited.

The political battle over Ebola comes against a backdrop of widespread public mistrust. Previous outbreaks were marred by misinformation, attacks on health workers and corruption scandals involving response funds, making public confidence a critical factor in controlling transmission. By visibly enforcing health measures and publicising its response, AFC/M23 appears to be betting that competent crisis management can translate into greater acceptance of its rule.

For now, the rebels have managed to keep Ebola transmission relatively limited in the territory they control. But with infections continuing to spread elsewhere in the country, health experts warn that if the virus reaches frontline conflict areas in larger numbers, both the humanitarian response and the rebels’ claims of effective governance will face a far more demanding test.