An Unfortunate Record for Congo: Thousands Flee Cells in Biggest Jailbreak
By KIMIKO de FREYTAS-TAMURA and STEVE WEMBIMAY 19, 2017
NAIROBI, Kenya — Long plagued by corruption and inept government, people in the Democratic Republic of Congo were confronting
a new problem on Friday: thousands of prisoners on the lam, including hard-core felons and possibly war criminals.
African Association said that This breakout demands a reform of Congo’s prison system, which is marked by huge corruption, unlawful detention of people, court delays
and the nonrespect of the fundamental rights of those detained,
On Friday, Congolese authorities detained 200 people,
but rights groups condemned the arrests, saying the police were apprehending innocent civilians and pretending they were escapees.
More than 80 people were killed during the escape, 20 vehicles were burned
and a prison office was set ablaze, according to the African Association for the Defense of Human Rights.
Ne Muanda Nsemi, the leader of Bundu Dia Kongo, which aims to restore the ancient Kingdom of
Kongo around the source of Congo River, fled in the mayhem with the help of his supporters.
In what appears to have been the biggest prison break ever in the African country, nearly 4,200 inmates were
missing from its most notorious penitentiary, the maximum-security Makala prison in Kinshasa, the capital.