A chaotic scene unfolded in the besieged Congolese city of Goma on Monday morning as a mass jailbreak occurred at a prison housing around 3,000 inmates.
The incident happened hours after fighters from the armed group M23, backed by Rwandan troops, entered the city.
According to a security source, the prison was “totally torched” during the jailbreak, resulting in an unspecified number of deaths.
Fleeing prisoners were seen in the surrounding streets, while gunshots and large explosions echoed through the city center on Sunday night.
The conflict in Goma is part of a larger struggle in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been plagued by regional rivalries, ethnic disputes, and armed militia conflicts for over three decades.
International pressure is mounting to end the battle for Goma, with Kenya announcing on Sunday that DRC’s President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame have agreed to attend a summit within the next two days.
The meeting aims to address the ongoing conflict and find a resolution to the crisis.
