Hundreds of Women Raped, Burned to Death After Prison in Congo Set on Fire: UN Official

Hundreds of women were raped and burned to death after a mass jailbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, following the seizure of a major city by militants.

“There was a major prison breakout of 4,000 escaped prisoners,” Vivian van de Perre, a senior United Nations official, told The Guardian in a story published on Feb. 5. “A few hundred women were also in that prison. They were all raped and then they set fire to the women’s wing. They all died afterwards.”

Further details regarding the jailbreak at Munzenze prison in the city of Goma were not immediately clear. The eastern Congolese city has been seized by the Rwanda-backed militant group M23.

Citing internal UN documents, the BBC reported that women were assaulted by male inmates as they broke out of the jail.

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According to the Associated Press, the militant group declared a ceasefire this week while Congo’s government deemed that announcement as “false communication,” citing ongoing violence. The fighting in Goma has claimed the lives of at least 900 people, the U.N. health agency said, per the AP.

The UN said in a press statement on Feb. 4 that thousands of people have been displaced as a result of the violence and called for the reopening of the city’s airport to “facilitate evacuation of injured people, delivery of medical supplies and arrival of humanitarian reinforcements.”