United Nations, UN says dozens of inmates with more than 150 female prisoners alongside their babies were burnt alive on January 27, 2025 when some detainees at Munzenze prison in Goma set fire on the facility to escape after M23 advanced to takeover the city, forcing prison guards to flee and shot dead many inmates.

Videos posted online by local media showed UN staff recovering some of the bodies burnt beyond recognition at the female cells.

One of the relatives of the burnt inmates said her mother was committed to the prison two years ago for stealing. She was able to recognize her mother’s body, saying, her mother had braided hair before the prison break. Adding that the baby her mother had while inside the prison also died in the inferno.

One of the female prisoners who sustained injuries from the inferno while speaking from her hospital bed, said that there were over 124 babies at the Munzenze Prison facility, explaining that most of them were asleep when the fire came falling on them including the babies.

It was also gathered that some of the female prisoners among the more than 150 persons burnt alive during the incident were raped by the escaping male detainees.

More than 4,000 detainees escaped as the M23 rebel alliance battled with Congolese forces over control of the city, CNN correspondent Salma Abdelaziz reported.

A senior UN official in the Democratic Republic of Congo said on Wednesday that nearly 3,000 people were killed in the fighting between M23 militants and the Congolese national army over control of the Goma eastern city.

Vivian van de Perre, the Deputy Head of the United Nations mission in the DRC, reportedly told reporters in a video call from Goma that UN teams are “actively helping” the M23 to collect the dead from the city’s streets. She said that, so far, 2,000 bodies have been retrieved and 900 others are in hospital morgues.

CNN reported that the UN Human Rights Office spokesperson, Seif Magango said that most of the 165 female prisoners who were raped by escaping male inmates died in the fire.

CNN added that; “Between nine and 13 female inmates, “all of whom had also been raped,” survived the blaze, Magango added, citing a judicial source in the DRC.

“We did not independently verify the judicial official’s report ourselves, but we do consider his account to be credible,” Magango told CNN Thursday.

The male inmates, some of whom were killed by prison guards, plotted a mass escape on January 27 as the M23 rebel alliance battled with Congolese forces in Goma over control of the city, the UN-sponsored Radio Okapi reported Monday”.

Local observers said, as rebels entered the city, Goma’s Munzenze prison became a centre of the violence. It was set on fire, prisoners were burnt alive – and thousands escaped.

Meanwhile, thousands of Goma City residents attend a Thursday rally organised by M23 rebels who sought to reassure them of safety under their administration as they try to shore up public support amid growing international pressure.

The head of M23 Rebels, General Cornellie Nangaa ordered the citizens of Goma City to clean up the city so as to attract tourists. He added that Goma will be the capital city of the new Congo Nation.

In a media interview, General Cornellie Nangaa, voiced strong dissatisfaction after the East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) denied his request to attend peace talks in Dar es Salaam.

Nangaa insists that without M23 representation, decisions made at the conference will be ineffective.

Nangaa was once a key ally of President Tshisekede. Nangaa previously served as the President of the Congo Independent National Electoral Commission between 2015 and 2021. He declared the Congo President, Felix Tshisekede winner of the 2018 presidential election and later had dispute with President Tshisekede over the election results, with allegations of election manipulation in favor of Tshisekedi and thereafter formed a coalition of rebel groups in North Kivu and the eastern DRC known as the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), which includes the M23 movement.

Video footage showed some battle scars remained with bodies of Congolese soldiers yet to be recovered littered the streets of Goma especially the road leading to the Airport.

CGTN Africa in an exclusive footage reported the aftermath of the battle in Goma with abandoned weapons and a blocked airport as M23 rebels tighten control still yet to be reopened.

The remains of the South Africa soldiers killed in Goma have beetransported from Goma across the Rwanda-DRC border. Local media reported that they crossed the La-Corniche border post during the week with the United Nations facilitating the transportation. The remains were thereafter repatriated to South Africa by air from Uganda.

It would be recalled we had reported that; in a bitter reaction to the statement credited to South Africa President, Cyril Ramaphosa over the killing of 13 SA soldiers in Goma by M23 rebels, Rwanda President, Paul Kagame has talked tough over President Ramaphosa description of Rwanda Defence Force, RDF as a militia group working with M23 and the SA President’s threat: reshared and commented on President Cyril Ramaphosa X social media post published: accused South Africa of being a party in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo who always launch offensive operations against M23 rebels, only trying to manipulate the public by thus falsely claiming to be a peacekeeper in a war the SA has joined hands to escalate, this, as hundreds of Romania mercenaries contracted to fight against M23 rebels ceded or surrendered to M23 rebels in the present of the rebels spokesperson, Willy Ngoma in Goma who was seen in videos warning and cautioning the Romanians never to come to Congo to fight against them before the Romanians were transported to Rwanda for further assistance to their country.

We had reported that over 1,200 men of the Armed Forces of Democratic Republic of Congo have ceded or surrendered Goma, the country’s largest city to M23 rebels with DRC military uniforms flooding the streets after they pulled off the army attires and took refuge at UN Peacekeeping military base leaving South Africa soldiers to continue to fight on, but South Africa military formation in Congo in a statement denying that its men did not surrender to M23 rebels, insisting that the White flag hoisted by one of his soldiers during heavy gun battle with the rebels was normal military tradition for both sides to ceasefire to enable the South Africa troops passage to receive medical supply and as well give room to the M23 rebels the opportunity to rescue their men injured in front of the South Africa military base near Goma Airport, this, as thousands of pro government protesters attacked and burnt some portions of US, French, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and other foreign embassies in Kinshasa.

We previously had reported that thousands of prisoners at Munzenze Prison facility in Goma, the capital city of North Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo may have set themselves free after M23 rebels took control of Goma early morning hours with videos posted online showing civilians flooding back to Goma and welcoming the M23 rebels in a rousing manner.

Earlier same day, we also reported that one of the most troubled countries in Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo government  begged civilian residents in the country to flood streets on Monday, 27 January 2025 just as M23 rebels are now in control of Goma, after killing the Congolese military commander, over nine South Africa soldiers, a total of 12 UN Peacekeepers, forcing other Congolese soldiers to surrender their weapons before the 3:00am Monday 27, 2025 deadline set.

We had earlier in January 2025 reported that M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo early this year advanced and seized the town of Masisi, same period the Congolese government sent 172 death row prisoners to executioners with 102 already confirmed executed while the government kept mum on the third batch of 70 prisoners including the May 19, 2024 37 coup plotters who were convicted and sentenced to death in September, 2024 just as the country Minister of Justice, Constant Mutamba threatened journalists with death penalty if they relayed the activities of armed group he described as Rwanda army and its M23 auxiliaries.