This archive report was first published on 2 August 2019.
On August 1, 2019, Rwanda closed its border with DR Congo due to a new case of Ebola in the Congolese border city of Goma. However, just a day later, the border was reopened after a brief eight-hour closure.
According to a statement from the Congolese presidency, traffic between Goma and the neighbouring Rwandan city of Gisenyi resumed on Thursday afternoon after being closed in the morning without explanation.
"The border has been reopened and people can move in both directions," the statement said.
The decision to reopen the border was made after a meeting between the health ministers of Rwanda and DR Congo, who clarified that the border should remain open to help control and transparency in the fight against Ebola.
Earlier, President Felix Tshisekedi's office had said Rwanda had made a "unilateral decision" to close the border after a third case of Ebola had been detected in Goma, despite recommendations by the UN's World Health Organisation (WHO) that borders should be kept open in such circumstances.
However, the Rwandan health ministry later clarified that the border had never been closed, but rather there had only been a "traffic slowdown... as measures were put in place to reinforce screening procedures and public safety at entry points," it said in a statement.
