Prison reopens after seven months

The main prison in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic capital, has reopened after seven months of closure, state-owned Radio Centrafrique reported on Monday.

Male prisoners who were being held in police and gendarmerie stations have been transferred to the facility.

The Ngaragba Prison was among the public facilities that were looted, damaged or destroyed following the 15 March coup that brought Francois Bozize to power.

The radio quoted the Ngaragba Prison director, Jean Jacques Malo, as saying prisoners were occupying two of the facility's buildings that the government had rehabilitated.

"Many of these detainees escaped and stayed in their neighbourhoods, which contributed a lot to insecurity and gave rise to a sentiment of impunity," Malo said.

He added that only female detainees were still in police and gendarmerie stations pending the rehabilitation of a women's prison in a Bangui suburb.

During civil strife in the country since 1996, prisoners were released from detention, a factor that contributed to insecurity across the country. The Ngaragba Prison has been neglected since 1979 when Emperor Jean Bedel Bokassa was overthrown.

During Bokassa's administration, the prison served to torture and kill the emperor's opponents. A group of school children who demonstrated against Bokassa were held in Ngaragba in January and April 1979.

Ngaragba Prison is Bangui's only prison for men.