UN chief Antonio Guterres started a three-day tour of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Saturday, expressing "solidarity" with a region ravaged by violence and an Ebola epidemic.

The UN secretary-general first visited Goma, the capital of North Kivu province which is trying to roll back an epidemic of Ebola that has claimed more than 2,000 lives in a year.  

Guterres was received by Leila Zerrougui, his special representative in DR Congo. 

The two did not shake hands, in line with health protocols aimed at curbing the spread of the highly infectious and very often fatal disease.

Guterres said he had come to express his support "with the armed forces of DRC in the fight against terrorism" which represents "a threat not only for the Congo but the whole of Africa."

The UN peacekeeping mission in the country known by its French acronym MONUSCO comprises some 16,000 troops and has an annual budget of over $1 billion. A total of 130 militias and armed groups roam the North and South Kivu provinces of DR Congo, a vast country the size of western continental Europe.

At a center for demobilized former militia fighters in Goma, Guterres appealed to the militias to choose peace.

"It's always possible to choose peace," Guterres said, urging all combatants to come "to a center like this [for] 

a new life in peace in their home community."

He added he had heard moving testimony from people living in the bush under the illusion that by being in an armed group they could have a better life. The reality, he insisted, was that meant "a tragic life, a life without a future."

According to the Group of Experts on Congo from New York University and Human Rights Watch, armed groups killed 1,900 civilians and kidnapped more than 3,300 people in the region between June 2017 and June 2019.

The demobilization of militias is a priority for MONUSCO, which has been present in DR Congo since 1999.

DR Congo health officials said late Thursday that there had been "2,006 deaths [1,901 confirmed and 105 probable]" since August 2018.

It is the second-worst Ebola outbreak in history after more than 11,000 people were killed in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia between 2014 and 2016.

Containment efforts have been hindered by the conflict in the country's east, as well as attacks on health workers tackling Ebola.

Guterres will end his tour in the capital Kinshasa, where he will meet President Felix Tshisekedi, who recently unveiled a new coalition government after a delay of nearly eight months.