Ebola gathering ban silences Goma's cultural revival
An Ebola outbreak has forced a ban on public gatherings in Goma, DRC, stalling the city's cultural revival and hurting local businesses.
The stages and concert halls of Goma, a city once celebrated for its vibrant music and arts scene, have fallen silent. A ban on public gatherings, imposed by the M23 authorities following a single confirmed case of Ebola, has brought cultural life to a standstill.
The city, which was already reeling from the impact of the M23 takeover in 2025, had just begun to see its festivals and events return. Now, with the ban in place, producers and artists are once again facing an uncertain future.
"Nothing is progressing in culture at the moment, given the Ebola context, we are forced to slow down," said Élie Loka, a Goma-based producer. He explained that the cultural sector's role is to help a stressed population find moments of relief. "What we are doing for this city in our cultural field is to make people smile again," he said, adding that the absence of events increases stress and leaves the community's mental well-being unmanaged.
The impact extends far beyond the artists themselves. Cultural commentator Jacques Kyanga noted that music supports a whole ecosystem of related professions. "When there is music there are many other disciplines that live around it," he said, pointing to dancers, instrumentalists, event hosts, and even hotels that rely on visitors coming for cultural events. "This is a missed opportunity, not only for culture."
Annual events like Festival Amani, Musika Na Kipaji, the Goma Dance Festival, and Kivu Fashion Week are now in jeopardy. The slowdown is also being felt in the city's markets. Phideline Kabuo, a trader at the Virunga Central Market, said business has dropped sharply. "People no longer come to buy, and business is not going as well as it did before," she said.
While Goma itself remains Ebola-free for now, the wider outbreak in Ituri and North Kivu provinces has surpassed 5,000 confirmed cases and is on track to become the largest in history. For a region already scarred by three decades of conflict, the new health crisis is a fresh blow to its fragile recovery.