EngRegional
DRC security services raped, murdered detainees in Makala prison
Congolese Notational Police moving near Makala Prison, in Kinshasa.
Some of the 156 victims of
rape in Makala prison, during the alleged “escape attempt” in the night of
September 1 to September 2, have said that those who raped them were in
national police attire and wore facemasks.
At least 200 prisoners died
and around 90 were injured following the carnage at the DRC’s largest prison in
Kinshasa.
One victim said that after
hours of heavy and light weapon fire ringing out in the grounds of Makala
prison, “men in uniforms of Congolese national police, wearing facemasks, armed
with guns and traditional weapons, entered the penitentiary shooting at a block
where electricity was already cut off.”
“They said they are going to
rape all of us. We were 300 women in the prison, and we started hiding beneath
beds. They even looted our telephones, money, and other personals we had,” she
added.
The Congolese government
claimed that most of the victims died from suffocation, and only 24 by gunfire.
But survivors of the carnage said that the national security forces
indiscriminately opened fire on prisoners for almost an hour.
“I will have fixed this case
within two weeks. We cannot tolerate this deceit of lying that the prison faced
power shutdown, when it is not the case,” Congolese Minister of Justice
Constant Mutamba told reporters after a court hearing, seemingly acknowledging
that the carnage in Makala prison was a planned scheme by top Congolese
officials.
Some sources say that the
carnage in the prison was a planned scheme to set free elements linked to the
deteriorating security crisis in eastern DRC. This is connected to the July
report by the UN Group of Experts on the DRC. The report noted that the
Congolese army and intelligence officials, as well as Makala prison
authorities, have been actively conniving to set free detained members of
terrorist groups operating in eastern DRC.
As the prison is known for
being a place for torture and murder of individuals accused of “treason” and
affiliation with the AFC/M23 rebellion, mainly Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese,
sources in Kinshasa say that the mayhem at Makala prison was plotted as an
occasion to murder opposition members and those allegedly affiliated to the
anti-government AFC/M23 rebellion.
“That was not an accident as
many Congolese might have believed. After few days you will hear that a number
of members of the opposition and those accused of ‘treason’ who were in Makala
prison are either dead or missing,” said a political analyst in DRC’s
capital.
President Felix Tshisekedi has
never commented on the incident, more than 10 days ever since it happened.
Regional observers believe that Tshisekedi was aware of the plot, and might be busy creating the narrative to tell the Congolese people who are saddened by the incident.
