The draft resolution, which could be put to a vote soon, says a culture of impunity has “undermined the safety and security” of UN personnel deployed in some of the world’s most dangerous areas.

The document notes that prosecutions for crimes against peacekeepers remain rare and calls on host countries to investigate and prosecute those responsible for attacks.

The initiative comes as seven peacekeepers serving with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon have been killed since the start of the latest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in early March. Two Malaysian members of the force were also slightly injured after an airstrike near a UN position in Tibnin caused damage from broken glass.

Denmark and Pakistan, both elected members of the Security Council, have made peacekeeping a central focus of their two-year terms. They have worked with South Korea as part of a group promoting renewed attention to UN peacekeeping issues.

The proposed resolution calls on all relevant parties to cooperate with the United Nations in identifying, investigating and prosecuting those responsible for attacks against peacekeepers.

It also urges states to take necessary measures in line with international humanitarian law and human rights obligations to ensure accountability.

The draft addresses concerns from countries that contribute troops to UN missions by calling for the appointment of a senior UN focal point to coordinate responses and encouraging affected countries to deploy trained investigators to support local investigations.

The resolution highlights growing threats against peacekeepers, including attacks involving shelling, improvised explosive devices and unmanned aerial systems.

Since 2013, at least 251 peacekeepers have been killed in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mali through malicious acts, with few perpetrators brought to justice.

Health authorities reported 550 confirmed cases as of Sunday, including 101 deaths and 19 recoveries, according to the latest situation update released late Monday. The outbreak was officially declared on May 15.

The vast majority of infections have been recorded in Ituri province, which accounts for more than 90 percent of confirmed cases. Additional cases have been identified in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, while the virus has also crossed into neighboring Uganda.

Officials believe the true number of infections may be higher because the outbreak was detected weeks after transmission had already begun. Response efforts have been further complicated by the absence of an approved vaccine or treatment for the strain responsible for the current outbreak.

The outbreak has been linked to the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus, for which no approved vaccine or therapeutic treatment currently exists. This differs from the Zaire strain, which was responsible for most of Congo’s previous Ebola outbreaks and for which vaccines and treatments have been developed.

Authorities said the sharp increase in confirmed infections partly reflects expanded diagnostic capacity, which has enabled laboratories to process a backlog of previously collected samples.

Health workers operating in affected areas continue to face significant obstacles. Medical teams have been attacked on multiple occasions by residents frustrated by the outbreak response, while persistent skepticism among some communities has complicated surveillance and containment efforts.

Security concerns remain a major challenge across eastern Congo, where numerous armed groups continue to operate. Ongoing violence has limited access to several affected communities and disrupted disease-monitoring activities.

The World Health Organization said Monday that insecurity is restricting access for response teams, hindering surveillance operations and increasing the risk that new chains of transmission could go undetected.

The agency said the attacks on health personnel underscore the difficulties of responding to a public health emergency in conflict-affected areas and highlighted the importance of cooperation with local leaders and communities.

Eastern Congo has experienced repeated outbreaks of Ebola over the past decade, but health officials warn that the combination of armed conflict, delayed detection and the lack of approved medical countermeasures for the Bundibugyo strain presents a particularly complex challenge for containment efforts.

Long queues of trucks carrying perishable goods such as plantains and fish have been stranded at the border, with many traders fearing their products will spoil before reaching markets.

Ugandan authorities tightened restrictions after Congo’s Ebola outbreak in Ituri Province worsened. While emergency and humanitarian traffic is still allowed, cargo movement has slowed significantly.

Officials say the measures are necessary to stop cross-border transmission of Ebola. Uganda has already recorded 15 confirmed Ebola cases linked to the outbreak in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Local businesses around the busy Mpondwe Border Post have been hit hard, with traders reporting spoiled goods, reduced income, and growing uncertainty.

The World Health Organization has warned that neighboring countries face a high risk of infection but generally discourages border closures, emphasizing surveillance and health measures instead.

Authorities say further restrictions may be introduced if the outbreak continues to spread.

The attack occurred in Rwampara, near the epicenter of the outbreak in Ituri Province, where local youths stormed and burned parts of a treatment facility after a man believed to have died from Ebola was denied a traditional funeral, according to witnesses and police officials.

Authorities said the confrontation stemmed from public resistance to emergency burial protocols designed to prevent transmission of the highly contagious virus.

Under outbreak regulations, suspected Ebola victims must be buried by trained teams because bodies can remain infectious and contribute to further spread.Deputy Senior Commissioner Jean Claude Mukendi, head of public security in Ituri Province, said relatives and friends of the deceased attempted to take the body home despite official restrictions. Police intervened but were unable to prevent the unrest.

Witnesses reported that aid workers evacuated the facility as protesters entered the center and set fire to equipment and structures. Humanitarian organization ALIMA, which operates at the site, later said calm had been restored and medical teams had resumed their work.

The incident highlights the growing challenges facing Congolese authorities and international aid agencies as they confront an outbreak that the World Health Organization has designated a public health emergency of international concern.Health officials reported 671 suspected cases and 160 suspected deaths across two provinces as of Thursday.

The outbreak has also crossed borders, with neighboring Uganda reporting cases, including at least one death.The WHO and regional health authorities have warned that the true scale of the outbreak is likely significantly larger than official figures indicate. Surveillance efforts are continuing as investigators seek to identify additional infections and trace transmission chains.

The outbreak is centered in Ituri Province, a region affected by chronic insecurity, weak healthcare infrastructure and large-scale population displacement. More than 920,000 internally displaced people are living in the province, according to United Nations estimates, complicating disease surveillance and response efforts.

Health experts say the Bundibugyo strain responsible for the outbreak presents additional challenges because no approved vaccine or specific treatment is currently available. Officials estimate it could take at least six to nine months before a vaccine becomes available.The virus has now spread beyond Ituri and North Kivu provinces.

On Thursday, authorities reported the first confirmed cases in South Kivu Province, including a death near the city of Bukavu, approximately 500 kilometers south of the outbreak’s center.The disease circulated undetected for weeks after the first known fatality in late April, partly because initial investigations focused on more common Ebola strains previously seen in the country.

Health authorities have yet to identify the outbreak’s first infected patient.The escalating crisis has begun to affect international travel and regional events. India and the African Union announced the postponement of the India-Africa Forum Summit scheduled for next week in New Delhi, citing the evolving health situation in parts of Africa.

The United States has also imposed screening measures and travel restrictions for individuals recently arriving from affected countries.

Ebola spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids and can cause fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain and severe hemorrhagic symptoms.

Public health officials say rapid detection, isolation and community cooperation remain critical to containing the outbreak.

Officials said the virus likely circulated undetected for weeks because initial testing focused on more common Ebola strains. No approved vaccine currently exists for the Bundibugyo variant, with WHO estimating any targeted vaccine could take six to nine months to develop.

The outbreak is unfolding in conflict-hit areas of eastern Congo, where insecurity, population displacement and weak health infrastructure are complicating containment efforts.

The attackers tied up villagers and killed them with machetes and other weapons while others fled, said a civil society leader, Maurice Mabele Musaidi, who gave an initial death toll of 19.

Some may have drowned as they tried to cross the Lamia river into Uganda, he added, noting that many were still missing.

A local official said later on Monday that the death toll had risen to at least 33, including an army captain. Two were children who drowned as they tried to reach Uganda.

Twenty-three victims were buried in the village, while six people were taken hostage to help carry looted goods and then executed, he added.

A humanitarian worker confirmed his team had helped bury 23 bodies. He said the army captain’s body had been taken to another location.

A spokesperson for Congo’s army said the attack in Beni territory’s Watalinga chiefdom was carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an armed group based in eastern Congo that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

The ADF formed in Uganda before moving over the border in the 1990s and has been blamed for thousands of killings in the last decade.

Congo’s army said it killed at least six of the militants that night, without going into detail on the operation.

The latest reported killing took place as Congo gears up for general elections on Dec. 20, for which campaigning is set to begin next week.

The electoral commission said on Monday that the vote would go ahead despite security concerns.

Nguesso spoke at a Russia-Africa forum in St Petersburg hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said the peace proposal would be discussed later in the day.

Kalehe (AP) — The death toll from flash floods and landslides in eastern Congo has risen beyond 200, with many more people still missing, according to local authorities in the province of South Kivu.

Thomas Bakenge, administrator of Kalehe, the worst-hit territory, told reporters on the scene Saturday that 203 bodies had been recovered so far, but that efforts to find others were continuing.

In the village of Nyamukubi, where hundreds of homes were washed away, rescue workers and survivors dug through the ruins Saturday looking for more bodies in the mud.

Villagers wept as they gathered around some of the bodies recovered so far, which lay on the grass covered in muddy cloths near a rescue workers post.

Grieving survivor Anuarite Zikujuwa said she had lost her entire family, including her in-laws, as well as many of her neighbors. “The whole village has been turned into a wasteland. There’s only stones left and we can’t even tell where our land once was,” she said.

Michake Ntamana, a rescue worker helping look for and bury the dead, said villagers were trying to identify and collect the bodies of loved ones found so far. He said some bodies washed down from villages higher in the hills were being buried shrouded just in leaves off the trees. “It’s truly sad because we have nothing else here,” he said.

Rivers broke their banks in villages in the territory of Kalehe, close to the shores of Lake Kivu on Thursday. Authorities have reported scores of people injured. One surivor told AP the flash floods came so fast that they took everyone by surprise.

South Kivu Gov. Théo Ngwabidje visited the area to see the destruction for himself. He posted on his Twitter account that the provincial government had dispatched medical, shelter and food supplies.

Several main roads to the affected area have been been made impassable by the rains, hampering the relief efforts.

President Felix Tshisekedi has declared a national day of mourning on Monday to honor the victims, and the central government is sending a crisis management team to South Kivu to support the provincial government.

Heavy rains in recent days have brought misery to thousands in East Africa, with parts of Uganda and Kenya also seeing heavy rainfall.

Flooding and landslides in Rwanda, which borders Congo, left 129 people dead earlier this week.

Local government official Bakenge told AP, “This is the fourth time that such damage has been caused by the same rivers. Not 10 years pass without them causing enormous damage.”

Thomas Bakenge, a regional government official gave the estimate after overseeing recovery efforts in the affected territory of Kalehe, calling the scale of destruction “enormous, beyond words … whole houses were carried away.” He said bodies were still being collected from the shores of the nearby Lake Kivu.

Two rivers broke their banks after the heavy rains which began on Thursday evening and there have been multiple landslides with scores of homes destroyed, according to Delphin Birimbi, a community leader in the region.

As bodies were pulled from the mud, some residents estimated that more than 75% of homes in the village of Nyamukubi have been carried away by the floods, along with school buildings and a health center.

Official Thomas Bakenge called for immediate assistance, saying “there is absolutely nothing left here. We urgently need help.”

Rescuers worked to find and save anyone who may be trapped under the rubble of their homes.

In a statement published Friday, the provincial government of South Kivu offered its sympathies to the families affected and said it was sending a delegation to the scene.

Heavy rains have brought misery to thousands in East Africa, with parts of Uganda and Kenya also seeing heavy rainfall.

Flooding and landslides in Rwanda, which borders Congo, left 129 people dead earlier this week.