Originally posted by Wikinews.
Wikinews content appears under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license
except where specified. As these articles are static snapshots of news
items that may be later updated, they may not represent the latest or final
revision of that article, and posted information may be only preliminary.

Priests beaten in Forecariah, Guinea over Ebola fears
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
January 21, 2015
Original URL: http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Priests_beaten_in_Forecariah,_Guinea_over_Ebola_fears



Three Baptist priests in Guinea were assaulted and held hostage
yesterday<!-- on Tuesday --> by local villagers after being mistaken for
campaigners promoting awareness about Ebola, the BBC has reported. They
were visiting Kabac, a village in the sub-prefecture of Forécariah, to
spray insecticide for the treatment of wells and pit latrines. Locals
reportedly thought they were bringing Ebola and attacked the priests.
After the assault they were held hostage and had their vehicle set
alight.

Following the attack on the priests, town council workers were forced to
evacuate as their building came under assault and was set fire to. A
local report, not been independently verified, alleged a council worker
was killed during the incident. Police intervened to arrest a number of
the local villagers involved in the attacks but were met with hostility
from those trying to stop the arrested being taken away.

Such incidents have been noted by the World Health Organisation (WHO). A
recent WHO report said "community resistance" is a "major barrier to
control" in the countries Ebola has worst hit. 

Forécariah has seen incidents like this before. In one incident, on
September 23, two Red Cross volunteers were attacked after they had
buried an Ebola victim's body. Villagers removed the corpse from the
grave and hid it. This then grew into an attack on a team of
epidemiologists by a mob of 3000 armed youths. This attack had undone
"weeks of persistent and effective efforts to slow the outbreak"
according to the WHO, who were overseeing the team.

Although not the worst affected country, Guinea has seen 1,876 deaths
from 2,871 cases of Ebola, according to WHO. This is compared to Liberia
and Sierra Leone with 3,605 and 3,145 deaths each from the effects of
the Ebola virus.

== Sources == 

* http://www.christiantoday.com/article/guinea.three.priests.beaten.and.held.hostage.for.spreading.ebola/46425.htm
* http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-30900917



.