About 30 students were attacked on the eve of their high school leaving exam by gunmen who raped one or more high school girls in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), officials said on Monday. sources within the Church and the governorate.
Read also: Emotion in the DRC after the death of two children in the attack on a school examination center
A group of armed men attacked during the night from Sunday to Monday a center which housed 32 students in Isiro, capital of the province of Haut-Uélé.
These students - 16 boys, 16 girls - "
had gathered together to take the essay test the next day (Monday)
," Father Georges Semende, from the diocese of Isiro-Niangara, told AFP.
“
These bandits raped the girls,
” he accused.
The spokesman for the governor, Félicien Nangana reported a raped young girl.
“
Despite this trauma, they agreed to take their essay test.
The authorities have opened an investigation,
”added the man of the Church.
"
I am revolted following the attack and the rape of the students in Isiro in full examination
", reacted on Twitter the deputy Claudel Lubaya who invited the coalition in power in Kinshasa to "
draw the consequences of the failure of ministers and services responsible for security
”.
Some 700 high school students forced to flee
In the eastern province of South Kivu, some 700 high school students and their teachers had to flee fighting near a school center, according to Nyange Saluba, a civil society official near Mikenge (Mwenga territory).
The clashes pitted local armed groups against Banyamulenge militias (Rwandophone Tutsi Congolese) who have been at war for several months in the Fizi highlands.
"
We chased away these outlaws
" who wanted to "
sabotage the school tests,
" Captain Dieudonné Kasereka, army spokesman in the region, told AFP.
On Thursday, in the neighboring province of North Kivu, two primary school students were killed and two wounded in a school examination center targeted by armed men.
The Covid-19 epidemic has wreaked havoc on the school calendar in the DRC, a country of more than 80 million inhabitants, a good half of whom are under 20 years old.
Only students taking exams resumed classes on August 10, after the lifting of the state of health emergency decreed at the end of March.
The other students have not been attending school since the end of March.