Ebola responders are on lockdown in the eastern Congo city of Beni after angry residents attacked a United Nations base to protest repeated rebel assaults, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. At least four protesters were killed, a local official said.

Every day that health workers don’t have full access to Ebola-affected areas is a “tragedy” that prolongs the second-worst Ebola outbreak in history, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Twitter.

Almost 50 “non-critical” staffers with the U.N. health agency were evacuated to the city of Goma while 71 remain, spokesman Christian Lindmeier said. He said the violence is not directed at WHO or the Ebola response at large.

Instead, Beni residents are outraged that rebels continue to carry out deadly attacks despite the presence of U.N. peacekeepers and Congolese forces. Some demand that the U.N. mission act or leave.

Ebola responders are on lockdown in the eastern Congo city of Beni after angry residents attacked a United Nations base to protest repeated rebel assaults, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. At least four protesters were killed, a local official said.

Every day that health workers don’t have full access to Ebola-affected areas is a “tragedy” that prolongs the second-worst Ebola outbreak in history, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Twitter.

Almost 50 “non-critical” staffers with the U.N. health agency were evacuated to the city of Goma while 71 remain, spokesman Christian Lindmeier said. He said the violence is not directed at WHO or the Ebola response at large.

Instead, Beni residents are outraged that rebels continue to carry out deadly attacks despite the presence of U.N. peacekeepers and Congolese forces. Some demand that the U.N. mission act or leave.

AL-HADJI KUDRA MALIRO (AP, CONGO)