Sawt Falasteen - Prostitutes, prospectors drive spread in DR Congo mpox capital

"Life in Kamituga drives people to sin," warned Bitama Sebuhuni, a prospector hospitalised after contracting the sometimes deadly viral disease during unprotected sex.

Renowned for its goldmines, Kamituga was the starting point of the mpox epidemic that has struck the Democratic Republic of Congo since September, according to the country's health authorities.

Abandoned by Belgian companies in the 1990s, its rich mineral veins have since attracted a vast variety of DIY diggers and eager prospectors from all walks of life.

Officially home to some 300,000 people -- though local sources put the population at double that -- Kamituga's colonial-era buildings have been overshadowed by a string of gold-buying bureaus, mining equipment shops and nightclubs.

With the virus passed from person to person through close physical contact, these establishments provide an ideal environment for mpox to spread.

After a hard day working up a thirst down in the mines, gold-rush Kamituga's pitmen emerge to hit the town and spend their cash in search of close companionship and what Sebuhuni called "atmosphere".

"When we talk about atmosphere, in our country we talk about women, prostitutes and alcohol," Sebuhuni said. "I used to sleep with prostitutes like this, without control or protection".

- Nightclubs and prostitutes -

The prospector was being treated in the Kamituga hospital's verdant mpox isolation centre, a rare oasis of calm spared the anarchy of the town centre.

Around "20 percent of our patients were contaminated by sexual transmission", said doctor Dally Muamba Kambaji of the ALIMA international medical NGO, underlining that "the condom does not protect" from mpox.

The hospital's doctors were the first to be confronted by mpox's resurgence from September 2023.

"We noticed unusual skin lesions on the manager of a nightclub," said doctor James Wakilonga Zanguilwa.

"When we noticed that certain loose women in the same nightclub had started to develop similar lesions we sounded the alarm," the medic added.

The "Mambengeti" nightclub may have shut its doors, but its name lives on as the local nickname for mpox -- whose spread in Kamituga was in large part driven by prostitutes.

Roaming the town's alleys and dives, they have a district to themselves and even their own association.

Its members, who come from as far away as the DRC's neighbours, gathered in a bar hidden at the end of a maze of alleyways.

Dubbed "The Sage's Corner", the establishment played host to gold panners and traders alike, with even a Congolese intelligence officer to keep an eye on comings and goings.

- Pimps and prostitutes -

Around a dozen of the association's members sat down on shabby sofas around a table in the first-floor bar, laden with lukewarm beers.

Heavily made-up with her blonde wig tucked under a scarf, false eyelashes and large gold earrings, Nicole Mubukwa had no hesitation in speaking on camera despite the lingering stigma against her profession in the region.

A little publicity could not hurt, she said -- especially given that mpox was bad for business.

"Since the outbreak of this disease, customers have been few and far between," Mubukwa lamented.

The women said that many infected women say nothing about their disease to avoid losing out on much-needed revenue.

"I was infected without knowing it and that was tough for me because I couldn't sleep with a man," said Alice, another member of the association.

"It's just like with AIDS, everyone hides it."

Alice said she earns between 3,000 and 10,000 Congolese francs (around one to 3.5 dollars) for each engagement.

She said that she came from the provincial capital Bukavu, where salaries are less generous.

That decision was made of her own free will, she said -- albeit under the watchful and unwieldy eye of the madam sitting nearby.

But back at the hospital, another prostitute who wished to remain anonymous told AFP that gangs of pimps trick young women into selling their bodies.

At first, the pimps offer a free ticket to Kamituga with the promise of a job as a waitress in town, before demanding that they pay them back for the cost of the transport, she said.

Despite the pitiful state of the roads linking Kamituga to the rest of the DRC, the virus has nonetheless spread throughout the whole of South Kivu.

And now the province is the epidemic's epicentre in the country -- itself the worst-hit by mpox in Africa.

D.Khalil--SF-PST