Ebola outbreak disrupts U.S.-backed Congo minerals talks, sources say

Ebola-related quarantine rules have delayed meetings tied to a U.S.-backed critical-minerals partnership in the Democratic Republic of Congo, disrupting travel for officials, investors and advisers.

The United States and Congo signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement on December 4, 2025, focused on economic and resource security, critical minerals and investment, and the State Department linked that effort to the Lobito and Sakania-Lobito corridor as a priority project. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met President Félix Tshisekedi in Washington in February to discuss how to carry out the agreement and open more room for U.S. investment. Congo approved a partnership with Portugal’s Mota-Engil on July 10 to rehabilitate the Congolese section of the Lobito Corridor railway, a route central to moving copper and cobalt toward the Atlantic port of Lobito in Angola.

The outbreak is spreading through remote but commercially vital provinces. On July 15, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classified it as Bundibugyo virus in Congo and Uganda, with no confirmed cases in the United States and a low risk to Americans. The outbreak was already the third-largest Ebola outbreak on record and the fastest-growing among recorded outbreaks, with spread across Haut-Uele, Ituri, Nord-Kivu, Sud-Kivu and Tshopo. The World Health Organization first declared the outbreak on May 15; Bundibugyo virus has no vaccine or specific treatment.

As of July 2, the World Health Organization counted 1,460 confirmed cases and 452 deaths in Congo, and 20 confirmed cases, two deaths and one probable death in Uganda. France notified the agency on June 24 of a laboratory-confirmed Ebola case in a doctor returning from Congo. The U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa warned Americans not to travel to Congo for any reason because of Ebola, and the CDC advised avoiding nonessential travel to Ituri, Nord-Kivu and Sud-Kivu.

Médecins Sans Frontières called for an urgent scale-up of containment and care after confirmed cases tripled in less than five weeks. Official government data recorded 2,011 infections and 754 deaths.