More than 160 women were raped and burned alive after a prison escape in the city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
This is reported by the BBC, citing an internal UN document and The Guardian.
The incident may have occurred as early as January 27, after rebels from the Rwandan-backed March 23 Movement (M23) seized the city. About 4 000 prisoners, most of them men, escaped from Munzenze prison in Goma.
Released male prisoners attacked women in their wing and then set fire to the prison. Most of the women who were injured died, according to Viviane van de Perre, deputy head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Goma.
“Several hundred women were also in that prison. They were all raped, and then the women’s wing was set on fire. They all died,” she said.
The UN estimates that 165-167 women were attacked. An internal UN report says that most of the women died after inmates set fire to the prison.
- Fighting between government forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo and M23 rebels escalated in late January 2025. Since then, the DRC government estimates that more than 2 000 people have died. The UN says 900 people have died, including more than 20 peacekeepers. International humanitarian organizations warn of the risk of epidemics — there is a shortage of water and food in the region, and the bodies of the dead are simply lying in the streets.
- The UN has accused Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebels, a charge the country denies. But it has had a history of conflict with Congo, dating back to the 1994 genocide. The movement, which is largely ethnic Tutsi, says it is defending the interests of the Tutsi and the Kinyarwanda-speaking minority, Rwandaʼs official language. They complain of threats from Hutu militants.
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