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.
Julien Paluku, the governor of North Kivu Province, where the episode occurred, said the government had not yet identified the attackers. Of the 966 inmates who were held in the prison, Mr. Paluku said, only 30 remained. Eight guards and three other people were killed, he said.
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. North Kivu Province adjoins Uganda, and the region has been plagued for decades by rebel and militia violence spilling across borders.
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. There have also been recent escapes from Kasangulu prison in central Congo and Kalemie in Tanganyika Province. And in Matete, a town north of Kinshasa, 17 detainees got away last Saturday from a police lockup and the public prosecutor’s office. All told, more than 6,000 inmates are reported to have escaped in recent weeks.
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.
Julien Paluku, the governor of North Kivu Province, where the episode occurred, said the government had not yet identified the attackers. Of the 966 inmates who were held in the prison, Mr. Paluku said, only 30 remained. Eight guards and three other people were killed, he said.
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. North Kivu Province adjoins Uganda, and the region has been plagued for decades by rebel and militia violence spilling across borders.
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. There have also been recent escapes from Kasangulu prison in central Congo and Kalemie in Tanganyika Province. And in Matete, a town north of Kinshasa, 17 detainees got away last Saturday from a police lockup and the public prosecutor’s office. All told, more than 6,000 inmates are reported to have escaped in recent weeks.
The Congolese authorities imposed curfews on Sunday on the Béni district and the city of Butembo as they searched for the attackers and escapees from the latest break. A military court in Béni has been conducting trials of Allied Democratic Forces fighters and their allies since August 2016.
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.
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Gabriel Kambale, who lives in Béni, said the escape “demonstrates the irresponsibility of the Congolese government.”
“When leaders are unable to secure prisons, how can you tell them that the whole country is as well run?” Mr. Kambale said. He said he wondered if President Joseph Kabila would use the situation as a pretext to postpone elections that are due in December.
Rudy Mandio, an opposition leader, called for the resignation or firing of the justice minister, Alexis Thambwe Mwamba. “He has failed for his duty to protect our prisons,” Mr. Mandio said.
Emmanuel Cole, the president of the Bill Clinton Foundation for Peace, based in Kinshasa, said the government may not have the wherewithal to solve the problem.
“The prisons of the D.R.C. are all in very bad states,” he said. “The Congolese state lacks the material and financial means.”
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