Over 260 female inmates were s3xually assaulted during a failed mass escape at Makala Central Prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to an internal U.N. report.
The report stated that 268 out of 348 women prisoners were victims of s3xual violence, including rape, with 17 of them under the age of 19.
During the attempted breakout on Sept. 2, guards used live ammunition to control the situation, resulting in 129 deaths.
The prison, with a capacity of 1,500, was housing over 15,000 people at the time. The government acknowledged the assaults but had not provided exact figures.
A government spokesman did not immediately reply to requests for comment on Thursday.
One victim, speaking anonymously due to fear of retaliation, stated that she had been raped by over a dozen inmates.
Another female prisoner, who witnessed the assault, described the scene as “horrible”, noting that male inmates attacked even elderly women.
For safety reasons, she also chose to remain anonymous. Prisoners had attacked the block where most women were housed, one of seven out of the facility’s 11 blocks vandalized during the breakout attempt.
“This is the worst case we’ve seen in terms of the number of rapes during an escape,” said Congolese rights activist Emmanuel Cole, who has monitored prisons since 1997.
He added that the U.N. figures might be an undercount, as some victims may have been too fearful to report the assaults.
Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi has initiated an investigation into the Makala prison incident and called for a review of major prisons to address overcrowding. Authorities reported that no inmates managed to escape.
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