DR Congo prison break horror saw '168 women raped' and buildings set on fire to kill children Over 160 women have been raped and children killed in fires after a prison break in war-torn DR Congo, the the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has said.
Vivian van de Perre, deputy head of the UN peacekeeping force, told a special session in Geneva that "168 women were raped" amid the chaos, and a number of female inmates died along with their children after the wing housing them was set ablaze.
Thousands of inmates escaped the Munzenze prison near Goma last Monday after M23 rebels supported by Rwanda swept in as part of their offensive in the east of the country.
Yesterday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued an urgent appeal to the rebels and their Rwandan military backers to "silence the guns" and stop the escalating fighting in the region.
Africa's top public health body said yesterday that the rebellion had disrupted services at a high-security medical lab in Goma involved in the control and surveillance of infectious diseases, such as Ebola.
