{"id":38997,"date":"2026-07-07T11:21:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T09:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=38997"},"modified":"2026-07-07T11:21:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T09:21:53","slug":"trade-eases-for-eastern-drc-as-ebola-travel-restrictions-lift","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/trade-eases-for-eastern-drc-as-ebola-travel-restrictions-lift\/","title":{"rendered":"Trade eases for Eastern DRC as Ebola travel restrictions lift \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Cross-border trade and transit between Rwanda and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have formally resumed after weeks of severe virus-related restrictions. The reopening was unexpectedly engineered by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel movement, which has militarily controlled Goma since early last year.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on morning show, Rise and Shine, Dennis Beru, journalist and team leader at Grassroot Journalism Kenya, noted that the rebel administration\u2019s move has brought immense relief to local communities. &#8220;Of course, they are happy to see the border reopened,&#8221; Beru observed. &#8220;Their lives are entirely dependent on it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The border closure was initially triggered in May by a spreading outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo Ebola strain. The quarantine measures severely choked Goma\u2019s economy, leaving residents completely dependent on foot traffic across the land border due to the ongoing shutdown of the city&#8217;s international airport.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While health authorities are preparing to launch specialised clinical treatment trials this week, the World Health Organisation has strongly cautioned against utilising sweeping border closures. The global health body warned that regional travel bans ultimately hamper humanitarian response and tracking efforts by forcing population movements underground.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":24186,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-38997","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"M23 rebels reopen strategic Goma border crossing to Rwanda","published_date":"2026-07-07 11:21:19","news_description":"M23 rebels reopen strategic Goma border crossing to Rwanda","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38998,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38997\/revisions\/38998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=38997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}