50 Inmates Escape Prison in Eastern DRC

Fifty prisoners escaped from a prison in eastern DRC after a fire broke out, a local administrator said on Friday.

“Those on the run include 20 convicted men. Two for murder and 18 for rape,” Desire Kubuya Masumbuko said.

Just one prisoner remained in the jail after the others took to their heels late on Wednesday and by Friday morning, none of them had been recaptured, Kubuya added.

The inmates broke out of a jail at Kamituga, which is 170 kilometres southwest of Bukavu, the capital South Kivu province.

Kamituga is a gold rich area and the economic capital of the Mwenga territory where security forces have had trouble dealing with armed groups.

Rape and killings are frequent in eastern Kivu provinces of the DRC, where there has been armed conflict over land and control of mineral resources for more than two decades.

Congo’s prisons are notoriously overcrowded and mismanaged making escapes common.

National and global human rights organisations regularly criticize detention conditions in Congo prisons.