At least 129 people have been killed after a failed jailbreak at Makala prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The incident at Makala, which is in the capital Kinshasa, also led to 59 people being injured.
Shabani said in the early hours of Sept. 2, a number of inmates tried to break out of the prison. He said a provisional assessment showed 24 were killed by “warning shots” fired by the guards.
He said, “There are also 59 injured people taken into care by the government, as well as some cases of women raped.”
However, it is unclear if all of the 129 dead were inmates.
Human rights activists have said the final death toll will be higher.
Martin Fayulu, an opposition leader, claimed there had been “summary executions” and said it was an “unacceptable crime that cannot go unpunished.”
Makala is the largest prison in D.R. Congo and holds more than 12,000 inmates, both male and female, despite only being built for 1,500.
The charity said conditions in the country’s jails are “appalling” and said, “Inmates suffered a lack of drinking water and medicines, and some starved to death.”
Shabani said order had now been restored at Makala, but he said part of the building caught fire during the disturbances.
He said the prison’s administration building, food depots, and a hospital had been badly damaged.
The country’s president, Felix Tshisekedi, who began a second five-year term in office in January, is in China on an official visit. He has not commented on the incident.
Deputy justice minister Mbemba Kabuya told a local radio station in Kinshasa the jailbreak was plotted by inmates in one of the wings.
Earlier, a prison official said none of the inmates had succeeded in escaping.
Witnesses said they had heard heavy gunfire and inmates outside of the jail, which is located in downtown, three miles from the presidential palace.
Stéphane Matondo, a local resident, said: “Shots were ringing out everywhere.”
Videos Show Dead Bodies
Videos posted on social media showed bodies lying on the ground inside the prison.In recent months, dozens of prisoners have been released, in an effort to combat the chronic overcrowding at Makala.
In 2017, members of a religious sect stormed Makala and freed dozens of inmates.
The leader of the Bundu Dia Kongo sect, Ne Muanda Nsemi, was among those who escaped. Nsemi was recaptured in 2020 and died last year, aged 77.
The Makala incident was one of the worst prison disasters in history.
In June 1986, at least 244 people died after incarcerated members of the Maoist rebel group, the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), rose up in three prisons in Peru.
The Peruvian government called in the armed forces, which crushed the uprising in Lurigancho and El Fronton prisons and a facility for women inmates at Santa Bárbara.
In 1992, Brazilian military police stormed the Carandiru prison in Sao Paulo during a riot, leading to the deaths of 111 inmates.
In 2014 a Brazilian court handed out long sentences to 15 prison officers over the so-called Carandiru massacre.
