172 inmates escape from Lubumbashi prison

Some 172 inmates escaped on Monday from a prison in the southeastern town of Lubumbashi after overpowering their guards, an official told IRIN on Thursday.

The state prosecutor in Lubumbashi, Gregoire Munoko, said the escapees also burnt all the penitentiary files at Kasapa prison in a bid to conceal their identities.

"The escape took place at night after the prisoners refused to re-enter their cells on the pretext that they didn't want to be locked up using the new padlocks that we had purchased," he said. He said the guards, who were outnumbered, were disarmed when a scuffle ensued between them and the prisoners.

"I believe there is a danger to the city, because the administrative list that we kept showed that the majority of the inmates were serving long sentences or were dangerous militants," Munoko said.

There were 269 inmates at the prison before Monday's escape.

The Lubumbashi prison escape follows another recent incident in the eastern town of Bukavu, where 300 inmates escaped during the 26 May-8 June occupation by dissident soldiers. At the time, a magistrate Bukavu, Jean-Pierre Kalihira, expressed concern over a possible rise in crime following the escape. He said he prisoners had escaped when dissident soldiers destroyed a prison as they entered Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu Province.

"We are worried that the escapes would have an impact on the crime rate within the city, because some of them had been convicted of murder and armed robbery, others were former military," Kalihira said. "We are also worried because many of the escaped prisoners were repeat offenders."