Kananga: Two men suspected of involvement in the murder of two UN experts investigating mass killings in the Democratic Republic of Congo escaped from prison overnight, a defence lawyer said Tuesday.
The pair, Evariste Ilunga Lumu and Tshiaba Kanowa, fled the central prison in Kananga, in central DRC, Lumu's lawyer Tresor Kabangu told AFP. He was informed of their disappearance by the military prosecutor's office.
At dawn on Tuesday, heavy gunfire could be heard from the vicinity of the prison in Kasai-Central province.
An AFP correspondent reported that by morning, the situation at the prison was tense with inmates in the yard threatening to attack anyone who ventures inside.
Military and police officials were at the scene, awaiting reinforcements to enter the prison and do a headcount to determine how many have escaped.
The experts — Zaida Catalan, a 36-year-old Swedish-Chilean national, and American Michael Sharp, 34 — were in Kasai on behalf of the UN
Security Council to investigate mass graves associated with a rebellion.