AT DUSK ON February 27th a group of young men dressed as football players were kicking a ball around a pitch besides an Ebola treatment centre in Butembo, a city in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Suddenly men with guns and machetes sprang out of the bush and handed weapons to those masquerading as footballers. Together, they charged into the centre. As the sick fled, along with health workers, the men splashed petrol around before tossing in lit matches. When nurses crept back later they found the smouldering remains of the pharmacy, archive room, hand-washing station and vehicles.
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