At least seven killed in jail riot - aid officials

At least seven prisoners died and 30 were injured in riots sparked by a lengthy water shortage at Abidjan's main jail, aid officials said. The riots started on Tuesday, but gunfire could still be heard on Wednesday morning, said Antoine Foucher of Medecins Sans Frontieres, a French non-governmental organisation that has been running sanitary and nutritional programmes in the country's biggest prison since 1997. “We saw seven dead, but it's very well possible that more people died,” Foucher said. “We evacuated nine prisoners who were seriously wounded. Some had bullet wounds, other were injured in the general crush.” UN human rights officials said they were investigating the riot and could not give a final death toll yet. Paramilitary police used tear gas and fired in the air to push back the detainees, but several escaped into nearby Banco forest, a large national park in the heart of the city. Prisoners had not had water for five days, a justice ministry official told IRIN on condition of anonymity, except for small rations of drinking water. “There is a big problem with water supply in the whole neighbourhood and this also affected the prison,” the official said. Rioting prisoners completely destroyed the doors and metal bars of the jail, located in the northern suburb of Yopougon, and looted the MSF office, Foucher said. The prison, commonly known by its acronym MACA, was built for 1,500 prisoners but holds around 5,500 people, including women and children. It is the country's biggest prison and conditions inside are notoriously bad, especially for the poor. Wealthy prisoners can ‘buy’ extra cell space, food and even staff to wash and iron their clothes, one former prisoner told IRIN. Foucher said he was certain the riots were not sparked by political disagreements. “The situation is permanently tense in the MACA, so things can degenerate very quickly,” he said. “The water supply system is broken down, many prisoners are malnourished, and there is often violence between prisoners.”