Kabila murder convicts escape

KINSHASA, Wednesday: More than a dozen people jailed for the 2001 assassination of Congolese President Laurent Kabila vanished from a prison in the capital Kinshasa yesterday, security sources and a human rights group said.

Security sources said up to 14 of the men, who were among scores of people convicted in 2003 over Kabila’s assassination, had escaped, while a human rights official raised the possibility that they may have been kidnapped from the jail.

The disappearance comes amid high tension in the city ahead of Sunday’s presidential run-off vote between Kabila’s son Joseph, who succeeded his father as Head of State, and former rebel chief Jean-Pierre Bemba.

"Fourteen of the people accused of assassinating the late President Kabila have escaped from prison," a security source said.

A second security source told Reuters: "Thirteen of them fled. They escaped through the back gate. It seems that this was orchestrated from inside."

Mr Amigo Ngonde of the African Association for the Defence of Human Rights, a local NGO, confirmed the prisoners had vanished from jail, but said it was not clear they had escaped.

"Fourteen of the people accused of the killing of Mzee (Laurent Kabila’s nickname) have disappeared from Makala," Ngonde said. "Up until now, we don’t know how these people got out. We don’t know if it was an escape or a kidnapping," he added without elaborating.

Kinshasa has been on edge since troops loyal to Joseph Kabila and Bemba fought bloody street battles on the city’s streets in August around the time results from a first round of voting were announced.

Mr Kabila led with nearly 45 per cent of the vote, well ahead of Mr Bemba with barely 20 percent.

But the poll exposed a deep rift between the Swahili-speaking Kabila’s native east and Bemba’s Lingala-speaking west, where many distrust Kabila.

Meanwhile, clashes between rival parties have raised tensions ahead of Congo’s election on Sunday, greatly reducing campaigning by candidates fearful of violence and underlining the dangerous role of well-armed private armies.

Days before the run-off, neither candidate has ventured out of the capital, leaving campaigning to their lieutenants. Several rallies across the vast country have been marred by clashes between their supporters.

"I think the Congolese people witnessed this (fighting) and I don’t want to take any further risks," Mr Bemba told reporters when asked on Tuesday why he was not actively campaigning.

President Kabila’s camp, which was largely blamed for the August fighting in which they attacked several Bemba houses and offices, also cited security fears. 

"There are people with weapons everywhere. It’s a threat," a Kabila aide told Reuters. "The security issue is a problem. What happened in August is a threat to both candidates’ security so this is why they are not campaigning," the aide said. 

(Reuters)