Three Bangladeshis who escaped a Myanmar scam compound to return home on Thursday

Two organisations in Rangamati's Baghaichhari upazila announced on Wednesday that they will enforce an indefinite blockade of the road to Sajek Valley from 6am on Thursday, saying the authorities did not act on their demands during a six-day pause for Durga Puja. They asked tourists staying in the hill destination to leave by the end of Wednesday.

The announcement was made in a joint statement signed by Natun Joy Chakma, president of the Sajek Karbari Association, and Babudhan Chakma, convener of the Sajek Gano Odhikar Rokkha Committee. Bijoy Kanti Chakma, member secretary of the rights committee, told The Daily Star that the organisations had suspended their programme from 16 to 21 October for the festival and would restart it once the celebrations ended. "Our blockade programme will continue until our three-point demand is implemented," he said.

The statement said fire service vehicles, ambulances, hearses, vehicles carrying emergency medicine and newspapers, and vehicles used by journalists on assignment would be allowed through. It did not say how long the blockade would last beyond the phrase "until further notice", and it called on residents and others in the area to support the programme.

This is the third round of disruption on the road since 11 October. The two organisations first called an indefinite blockade that day, then suspended it for 48 hours after assurances from the district administration and the Baghaichhari Zone deputy commander that their demands would be addressed. They resumed the blockade on 15 October, saying the assurances had not been kept, and then suspended it again from 16 October at the request of the Durga Puja committees of Baghaihat and Machalong markets.

The valley was closed to tourists on the evening of 11 October, when the district administration cited security concerns, and reopened on 15 October after the blockade was withdrawn. The latest statement does not say whether the administration intends to close the tourist area again, and no new public notice had been issued by Wednesday night.

At the centre of the dispute is the organisers' demand that armed members of the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (JSS-Santu Larma) be withdrawn from Sajek. In their statement, the two organisations alleged that armed JSS members remained in their previous positions and were active in Thalkumbho, Chillyatuli Kuthi, Noapara, Lambabak and Bhuachhari in Machalong, naming two company commanders they said were leading them. They claimed that more than 100 local people had been threatened with death and forced to leave their homes, that villagers' mobile phones had been confiscated, and that fear had stopped jhum cultivators from tending turmeric and broom-grass gardens.

The organisations also accused the army of carrying out what they called "showpiece operations" without acting against the armed group, and of harassing people who protested against its alleged abuses. Those are the organisers' allegations; the reports reviewed for this article did not include independent verification of the specific incidents or the names given.

The JSS rejected the accusations. Sajib Chakma, the organisation's publicity secretary, told Prothom Alo that the claims were intended to divert attention from what he described as longstanding oppression and harassment of ordinary people in Sajek by armed members of the United People's Democratic Front (UPDF). He also said the two organisations had announced the blockade under pressure from the UPDF. The JSS's account has not been independently verified either.

The army and the district administration did not issue a public response to Wednesday's statement. Officials had earlier said security was the reason for closing the valley, and the administration has not said whether it considers the road safe for visitors while the blockade is in force.

Sajek is one of Bangladesh's best-known hill destinations, and the road through Dighinala and Baghaichhari is the main land route for tourists, residents, traders and jeep operators. A blockade at the start of the post-Puja travel period affects hotels, cottages, restaurants and transport workers who depend on the holiday season, as well as villagers who need the road for supplies and medical travel. The exemptions announced by the organisers cover emergencies but not ordinary passenger vehicles.

The dispute also reflects older tensions in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, where rival Hill political organisations and armed factions have competed for influence for years. A 1997 peace accord ended the main insurgency, but friction between groups has continued, and civilian populations have often borne the consequences of local rivalries.

What happens next depends on two decisions that had not been made public by Wednesday night: whether the administration will again close Sajek to visitors, and whether security forces will act on the organisers' demands or offer fresh assurances. The blockade is due to begin at 6am on Thursday. If it goes ahead as announced, vehicle movement on the valley road will stop except for the exempted services, and any tourists still in Sajek will have to leave by the permitted route.

Nigeria has confirmed its first Ebola case in more than a decade, after a woman who arrived from Uganda tested positive for the virus in the capital, Abuja. The health ministry said the result was confirmed by laboratory tests on Tuesday, making Nigeria the first West African country drawn into the outbreak that began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in May.

The patient developed symptoms on 7 October, four days after arriving in the country, according to the World Health Organization. She sought care at a private hospital in Abuja on 11 October and was kept there as her condition worsened. Ebola was confirmed on 20 October, and she is now in isolation and receiving treatment.

Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate said contact tracing began immediately, with 44 close contacts identified so far. Most are healthcare workers. "We are doing everything possible to contain this case by tracing all the contacts the individual may have had," Pate said. He told the national broadcaster NTA that the woman had shown no symptoms when she landed and that she had not confirmed travelling to Congo herself. "We presume that it was likely picked in Uganda," he said.

Uganda's government pushed back on that assumption. The director general of health services, Charles Olaro, said preliminary information showed the woman had travelled to eastern Congo for business before passing through Uganda in early October, and that her symptoms began only after she reached Nigeria. "Travel through Uganda does not establish that infection occurred here. The location of exposure remains under investigation," Uganda's health ministry said. It added that the country has no confirmed active Ebola cases and urged the public to stay calm and keep washing hands.

The two accounts leave an important question open. Uganda says Nigeria has not yet supplied a detailed travel itinerary and clinical history. Nigeria has not disclosed the woman's nationality. The BBC, citing health sources, reported that she is not Nigerian and is the wife of a diplomat, a detail the authorities have not confirmed publicly. Her route and the point at which she was exposed are central to deciding where else officials must look for infections.

The outbreak behind the case is caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, which is rare and has no approved vaccine or treatment, although trials are under way. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says the fatality rate is nearly 50%. More than 9,500 cases and at least 4,600 deaths have been recorded in Congo since May, according to figures from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control cited by the BBC. The Guardian reported that the WHO expects the outbreak to surpass the 11,000 deaths recorded in West Africa between 2014 and 2016, the deadliest Ebola epidemic on record.

The virus has spread steadily across the continent. Uganda reported 20 cases in May and June, most of them imported from Congo, and was declared free of the disease in August after its last patient was discharged. Kenya confirmed its first case this month in a traveller who had been in Congo, and has since recorded nine infections linked to that first patient. The spread to Kenya raised questions about how well border screening is working. On Monday, the United States advised its citizens to reconsider travel to Kenya because of the health risk.

Nigeria has prepared for this moment since June, when it set up an Ebola taskforce after the outbreak was declared in Congo. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control stepped up surveillance when Kenya reported its first case, focusing on early detection, isolation, laboratory diagnosis, infection control and contact tracing. Pate pointed to the country's record in 2014, when it stopped an imported outbreak that killed eight people during the West African epidemic. "We have the systems in place," he said.

What happens next depends largely on the 44 contacts. Ebola's incubation period runs from two to 21 days, so anyone exposed may fall ill weeks from now. Public health teams are monitoring the contacts, and officials are using the woman's travel documents to trace passengers who shared her flights. Those passengers and the hospital staff who treated her before the diagnosis are the groups most likely to need follow-up testing.

For the region, the case is a test of whether the outbreak can be kept out of Africa's most populous country, with its dense cities and busy airports. Africa CDC Director General Jean Kaseya said the outbreak is now the most geographically extensive in history and called it "an extremely serious threat" that needs political leadership and funding. What remains unknown is whether this is a single imported case or the start of local transmission, and how many of the contacts will test positive in the coming three weeks.