Stampede kills 37 in army recruitment drive in Congo-Brazzaville

Students at the military school of Makabandilou, in the suburbs of Brazzaville march in 2010 during the inauguration of the school financed by France and Congo. (Photo by AFP)

• Congo-Brazzaville says 37 are dead, in a stampede around which details are still hazy.
• The army said it wa recruiting 1 500 young people, in a country with very high unemployment.
• The tragedy happened at a stadium used as a recruitment point.

Thirty-seven people have died in an overnight stampede during an army recruitment drive in a stadium in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, authorities said on Tuesday.

Last week, the army in the central African nation also known as Congo-Brazzaville announced it was recruiting 1 500 people aged between 18 and 25.

Prime Minister Anatole Collinet Makosso, who said 37 people had been killed in the “tragedy”, announced that an unspecified number of other people were also injured.

“A crisis unit has been set up under the authority of the prime minister,” a statement added. Other details about the incident are still hazy.

Potential recruits had been directed to go to the Michel d’Ornano Stadium in the heart of Brazzaville.

According to local residents, many people were still in the stadium on Monday night when the stampede began. Some people had tried to force their way through gates, with many being trampled in the scramble, residents said.

Unemployment is rampant in the country of 5.8 million people, where according to the World Bank, “75 percent of the Congolese workforce are employed in the informal sector, either self-employed or in low-productivity jobs”.