Prison break in Bukavu, DRC

Erick Bukulu

By

Byobe Malenga

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo town of Bukavu have launched a man-hunt for 20 hardcore prisoners who escaped from a detention centre on Monday.

Local administrators in the eastern DRC city say they have despatched dozens of security officers to track down the escapees, many of them jailed for capital offences. DRC jails which are full, with some of the inmates being political prisoners and former rebels, are constantly being broken into.

More than 20 inmates have escaped the prison and until now none of the prisoners have been arrested, but the government says it continues to search to apprehend the prisoners who have escaped jail.

They escaped four days after their arrest and presentation to the press. The officer of Kadutu county, Bekawo Munyole, pointed out the complicity of the policemen committed to guarding the detention centre.

Disappointed, he felt that this escape is a simple liberation. Residents of the Tshipunda district in Kadutu say they fear for their safety and fear that escapees will attack them.

This is not the first escape of prisoners in the area. Congo’s prisons are notoriously overcrowded and mismanaged and escapes are common. Last year, almost 600 prisoners escaped a jail in Bukavu, Uvira and Fizi in the province of South Kivu.

Byobe Malenga

Byobe Malenga has experience spanning more than 11  years in Journalism, particularly in field reporting, editing, newscasting and management. He is currently working with the BBC World Service as a reporter in eastern Congo DR for Swahili desk, Radio, TV and online. In addition to this Byobe Malenga works as a media consultant in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  He is also the multimedia journalist, as well as Editor of the newspaper ‘Journal FIZI DAIMA ’.

Malenga has already participated in several reporting missions on behalf of radio stations such as Radio Television Groupe d’Avenir- Kinshasa as well as numerous training missions, animation workshops and support as the strategic planning and operational. He has already made several trips to Africa taking in Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Lesotho, Namibia, and Mozambique, the Republic of central Africa and the Congo Brazza and South Africa.

He has worked with the media (written and spoken press) for several years in various fields such as production of commercials, jingles, magazines, newspapers and other emissions. He has capitalized on the valuable experience of working with foreign radio in areas of partnership, social mobilization around water points, the setting-up of committees, etc.