Gunmen Storm a Congo Prison, Freeing More Than 900 Inmates
By STEVE WEMBIJUNE 12, 2017
KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Armed men stormed the Kangbayi prison on Sunday in the Democratic Republic of Congo,
freeing more than 900 inmates, most of them charged with taking part in mass killings in the country’s restive northeast.
Local news reports said the attackers claimed to be Ugandan fighters of the Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel group
that has been accused of massacring more than 600 people in the past three years.
There have been at least four jailbreaks in Congo in the past month, including a mass breakout from the
country’s most notorious penitentiary, the Makala maximum-security prison in Kinshasa, the capital.
An organization that documents violence in the region, the Center of Study for the Promotion of Peace, Democracy and Human Rights, said in a statement
that the jailbreak on Sunday was a major blow to the country’s effort to defeat the rebels and achieve peace and stability.
Julien Paluku, the governor of North Kivu Province, where the episode occurred, said the government had not yet identified the attackers.
North Kivu Province adjoins Uganda, and the region has been plagued for decades by rebel and militia violence spilling across borders.
A military court in Béni has been conducting trials of Allied Democratic Forces fighters and their allies since August 2016.