Madar (Bangui) - The Central African Republic has stepped up health screening along its river border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Ebola cases have passed 10,000, Africanews reported on Friday, October 30, 2026.
At the M'Poko Bac pier border post south-west of Bangui, on the banks of the Oubangui river, passengers arriving by canoe disembark one at a time, go to a hand-washing station, are briefed on the situation and then directed to a tent for temperature checks and registration, health screener Maldiana Bagalama explained.
DR Congo and the CAR share a porous and largely unmonitored frontier of more than 1,500 kilometres. "The same communities live on both sides of the border," said Dr Valentin Nebanga, head of the Health Promotion Department at the Ministry of Health.
He said entry points are staffed by health workers, the Water and Forests Department, Customs, Civil Protection and Internal Security Forces, and that all passengers, arriving and departing, are systematically screened. Awareness campaigns are also drawing in neighbourhood chiefs, community leaders and religious figures.
No Ebola case has yet been reported in the CAR, but Nebanga conceded that retaining and engaging staff remains the biggest challenge: "We are never fully prepared." Fishermen, fish sellers and canoe operators who depend on the river say they are worried, as cases have also been reported in Kenya and one in Nigeria.
