UN officials say Congo prisoners dying of hunger
KINSHASA, Congo—At least 26 prisoners have died of hunger in a prison in Congo since the beginning of the year, U.N. officials said.
The United Nations Mission in Congo sent a team to the Mbuji-Mayi Central Prison in the province of Kasai Oriental, about 600 miles southeast of the capital, Kinshasa.
Sylvie Van Wildenberg, a U.N. spokeswoman, said that four prisoners died during the night of July 13 "as a result of severe malnutrition." At least 10 have died since June, and 26 since the beginning of the year, she said Monday.
"Our concern is even greater as we noted that among these deaths, many of them are defendants, who are therefore presumed innocent because they have not been judged due to the slowness of the legal process," said Assiongbon Tettekpoe, a local human rights officer for the U.N., who visited the prison earlier this month.
The prison, built in the 1960s, has a capacity for 200 prisoners but is housing at least 425.
The U.N. mission said Tuesday that there is not enough food to go around at the overcrowded facility and it is asking local officials to create a specific budget for food.
"One of the causes is the overcrowding versus the limited resources in terms of food. The money is simply not there. And when it is there it doesn't go to where it should go," said Kemal Saiki, chief spokesman for U.N. Mission in Congo.
He said unhygienic conditions are another factor contributing to the famine mortality.
Ngoy Kasandji, the governor of the province, says he recognizes the overcrowding problem. The prison, he said, has failed to expand along with the neighboring town's population, which has grown from around a half million residents in the 1960s to over 4 million today.
"We have an obligation to expand the prison. We need to find the means to do so as the current penitential structure cannot contain the number of prisoners anymore," he said.
Floribet Chebeya, the director of Voice for the Voiceless, a local rights group, said the reaction is too little too late.
"We have raised the alarm several times before on this situation but nothing has changed. In this prison, there are living skeletons. There are people whose bones are only covered with skin because of famine," he said.
