What you need to know:

  • The Ministry of Health and the district Ebola task force committees have intensified screening at official border points, established screening/quarantine centres and banned movements from DR Congo to Uganda and vice versa. 

At the busy dusty border towns of Lia and Odramacaku, both in Arua City, traders are sighted crossing from the Democratic Republic of Congo into Uganda using illegal border entry points. Some are crossing using the designated routes with UPDF soldiers patrolling the areas as a measure to control the movement of people. But when Daily Monitor visited one of the illegal border crossings in Lia on Wednesday afternoon, women were seen walking across the border with baskets of cassava and smoked fish on their heads. Boda boda riders were also ferrying passengers through the muddy paths, following a downpou

rAt another unmanned border point at Lia, a UPDF soldier and a plain-clothed colleague emerged from the nearby bush. They then stopped the Daily Monitor reporters and asked them where they were coming from and where they were going. People have always crossed freely between the two countries. After assuring them that the team was heading to Arua City, they allowed the reporters to proceed. At the two border towns, residents depend on cross-border interactions with people from the DR Congo. However, this way of life is now restricted due to an outbreak of Ebola in the DR Congo. Despite the movement restricts issued by the government, people are still sneakily crossing the border for trade, among others.
For weeks, health workers have been on high alert after Ebola broke out cross the border in eastern DR Congo. The Ministry of Health and the district Ebola task force committee have intensified screening at official border points, established screening/quarantine centres and banned movements from DR Congo to Uganda and vice versa. However, the hundreds of illegal crossing routes are negating government’s effort to contain the spread of Ebola. Ms Leticia Avako, a resident of Arua City, speaking to the Daily Monitor said: “I usually cross to the DRC in Ariwara every market day.

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