Latest Kinshasa News
Protesters in Congo call for the release of political prisoners, including 3 top opposition figures
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Hundreds protested in front of Congo's top court Wednesday to demand the release of political prisoners, including the country’s three most prominent opposition figures imprisoned on charges the opposition says are politically motivated. Felix Tshisekedi,...
Thousands of ill inmates released from Congo's main prison to ease overcrowding
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Nearly 1,700 ill inmates were released Monday from Congo’s largest prison, the minister of justice said, as part of an effort to thin out the country's overcrowded prisons. The operation took place at Makala Central Prison in the capital Kinshasa on Monday...
Congo court sentences 3 Americans and 34 others to death on coup charges
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — A military court in Congo handed down death sentences Friday to 37 people, including three Americans, after convicting them on charges of participating in a coup attempt. The defendants, most of them Congolese but also including a Briton, Belgian and...
How 3 young Americans ended up in the middle of a coup attempt in Congo and facing the death penalty
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — A military court in Congo, one of Africa’s largest countries, has convicted three Americans and dozens of others of taking part in a coup attempt and imposed “the harshest penalty, that of death.” The court convicted the 37 defendants, including the...
Questions swirl around attempted jailbreak in Congo as families of victims demand accountability
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Families of those killed in what authorities called an attempted jailbreak in Congo's biggest prison are demanding answers from the government as activists denounce what they say are inhumane conditions in the nation's overcrowded penitentiaries. Officials...
Attempted jailbreak at a Congo prison kills 129 people as chaos erupts with a stampede and gunshots
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — An attempted jailbreak in Congo’s main prison left 129 people dead, including some who were shot by guards and soldiers and others who died in a stampede at the overcrowded facility, authorities said Tuesday. One prominent activist put the death toll at more than 200. ...
An attempted jailbreak in Congo's main prison in Kinshasa leaves 2 inmates dead
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — An attempted jailbreak from Congo’s largest prison in the capital, Kinshasa, left at least two inmates dead early Monday as heavy gunfire rang out and security forces cordoned off the area. Congolese government spokesman Patrick Muyaya confirmed on X that...
A truce in Congo ends in a week. Aid groups say it could be a lost opportunity to help civilians
GOMA, Congo (AP) — A two-week truce in eastern Congo has heavily reduced fighting, but with a week left aid workers and local civil society groups say not much help has reached millions of people who are trapped in one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. The two-week...