Africa News Summary : News Headlines : Discussion Forums

KINSHASA, July 22 (AFP) - A human rights organization in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Monday demanded the closure of an extra-judicial jail at the Kinshasa airport where it described inhumane conditions.

"The Voice of the Voiceless (VSV) demands that the Congolese government order the immediate closure of the basement jail," the group said in a statement.

Located in the basement of an air force building, the unofficial jail holds both civilian and military detainees who were "improperly arrested," the statement said.

"The victims sleep on the ground in poorly ventilated cells with their hands and feet shackled" and do not have the right to visitors or to food brought from the outside, VSV charged.

The rights group issued a similar call in January.

The jail, like many others in Kinshasa, is still operating despite a decision by President Joseph Kabila in March 2001 to close any jail across the country that is not connected to the court system.

In May 2001, the London-based rights watchdog Amnesty International denounced torture and ill-treatment at unofficial detention centres which it said were run by the security services.

Amnesty also charged that human rights workers investigating such abuses were subjected to reprisals.

Kabila became president in January 2001 after his father -- who had been fighting rebels since August 1998 -- was assassinated.

Peace has remained elusive in the former Zaire despite a 1999 accord and numerous attempts since then to forge a lasting settlement.

Direct talks between the DRC and neighbouring Rwanda, the main protagonist in the conflict that has claimed 2.5 million lives, are under way in the South African capital Pretoria.

Marathon talks in Sun City, South Africa, which ended inconclusively in April, managed to set up a working group to draft a new transitional constitution for the central African country, which has not had elections since independence in 1960.
Nampa-AFP

•  Big Brother Africa 3: The audacity of Hazel!
•  Big Brother Africa 3: Who's your winner?