More than 50 in overcrowded DRC prison starve to death

Beni — Fifty-two inmates at a prison in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) city of Bunia have starved to death this year because of insufficient government funding, the UN and local authorities said.

The DRC’s jails are among the world’s most overcrowded, according to the UN, with inmates living in squalid conditions on meagre rations. The Bunia prison operates at nearly 500% of capacity, UN figures show.

“This situation is really worrying,” said Bunia mayor Ferdinand Fimbo, blaming sporadic government support for malnutrition in the prison.

President Félix Tshisekdei told his cabinet this month he would personally ensure prisons across the country did not run out of food or medicine. But the head of the Bunia prison, Camille Zonzi, was quoted in a report by the UN peacekeeping force in the DRC as saying that the government has still only promised, at a meeting last week, to cover three months of the prison’s expenses.

Malnutrition is common in DRC jails because food portions are allotted based on facilities’ nominal capacity, rather than their real populations, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Since January, prison administrations across the country have had to buy food and essential supplies on credit, said Thomas Fessy, HRW’s DRC researcher.

“This tragedy could have been prevented,” Fessy said. “More detainees will die if the government does not act and prisons do not receive vital assistance.”

On September 4, about 100 heavily-armed rebel fighters from an ethnic militia entered Bunia and temporarily surrounded the prison, demanding the release of their comrades, but Fimbo said their demands had nothing to do with the food situation. 

Reuters