CONGO TO EXECUTE URBAN YOUTH GANGS

Widespread debate broke out across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the world when Minister of Justice Constant Mutamba announced on 5 January that the country would be executing 170 youths involved in gang violence in Kinshasa.

Known as 'Kuluna,’ the youths are held in a special prison in the country’s north. While official reports state that the boys are between the ages of 18 and 35, many worry that some of the gang members are much younger.

African Stream’s Inemesit Richardson spoke to Jacinthe Maarifa, a Goma-based Congolese artist and activist with Action Globale pour l’Inclusion et la Résilience (Global and Inclusive Action for the Development in English, @agir_rdc [X], AGIR RDC [Facebook]), to better understand the debates surrounding capital punishment and the Kuluna gangs.