129 prisoners died trying to escape from prison in Congo

Congo Jail Prisoners Death: At least 129 people were killed while trying to escape from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s biggest prison, the country’s officials said on Tuesday (August 3).

The New York Times quoted Congo’s Interior Minister Jacqueman Shabani in its report that most of the deaths were due to a stampede but at least 24 prisoners were killed in the firing. All these prisoners were trying to escape from Makala Central Prison early on Monday. He said on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that 59 people were injured and there were some cases of rape of women, but he did not give any further details. As of Tuesday afternoon it was not clear whether any prisoner had escaped or not.

This stampede happened in Makala prison of Congo

Makala is the only prison in Congo’s capital Kinshasa, one of Africa’s most populous cities. It has a capacity of 1,500 people but houses at least 12,000 prisoners, according to an October 2023 report by human rights organization Amnesty International. The incident comes at a time when Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi is in Beijing for a forum on China-Africa cooperation and has further increased the challenges facing the Central African country.

There was a shootout in the prison on Monday night. A famous journalist, Stanis Bujakera Tsiamala, shared a video in which prisoners were running out and bullets were being fired around them. He shared another video filmed at night in which several prisoners are standing around a dead body inside the prison premises.

Congo is facing difficulties

Congo, with a population of more than 100 million people, is grappling with multiple crises, including a deadly ampox outbreak and conflict in its eastern region that has killed more than six million people and displaced millions more over the past three decades.

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