The DRC—Death in the afternoon

Goma, DRC March 12^th 2011

When the Angolan Army intervened we were quite unprepared. They, and the Zimbabweans, had tanks, heavy weaponry and aircraft. We were lightly armed. I lost many friends that day in Kitona; I saw people killed and injured, people with their legs blown off. I was hit by shrapnel and lost my left eye. We regrouped as best we could and retreated through the jungle. I did not receive medical care until many weeks later.

I am sitting behind a camera in the middle of an interview with my new, and most unlikely, best friend, the Congolese boxer and ex-child soldier Kibomango, who is recounting his part in the Congo wars that is part Blood Diamond and part Heronious Bosch. This is a description of the pivotal battle of Kitona in 1998, which took place at a garrison town west of the capital city, deep inside Congo nearly 2000 km from the Kivus, the home of Kibomango and his RCD rebels. The intervention of Angola, Zimbabwe and four other countries marked the start of the plunge into The Second Congo War, the largest and  most deadly conflict since WW II, and something which is not yet fully over either.

Kibomango delivers his answers in a clear, matter of fact way. We are following “semi-structured interviewing”—having a loose list of questions and letting the interviewee take things in unanticipated directions, where ever truth, passion and good story telling lead.

I had never anticipated making a film and am mildly shocked that this project has actually advanced this far; but in a beautiful African way my story has collided with someone else coming from a very different direction. That this man’s tale should be told and that there is an opportunity to tell it seems like the most obvious thing in the world. In DRC, where you sometimes need 9 lives, you can live 9 lives also.

Kibomango has camera-friendly ability and speaks freely about the topics before him. There is both honesty and passion in the telling—almost a purity to the narrative. He has something to say.

The one topic that does hit a nerve is his last professional fight, which ended with his opponent, Saidi, an all Congo champion, one bout removed from being all Africa champion, dying in the ring. The fight, which took place right here in Goma, was a big event—the governor and the most senior military sector commanders in this conflict-ridden province attended, all hard men who wield real power in war time, made and make life and death decisions. In these terms, and in light of the death of one of the combatants, that boxing match seems like the closest modern day equivalent to the Coliseum in Rome.

Saidi was also a home town boy and had many friends and fans. This and the described rivalry between their fans points to fight day having been an electric atmosphere. The death is something that Kibomango has had to wear ever since. For one, it meant that the fight, and the all Congo title, was forfeit. He has been struggling ever since to have another fight scheduled so that he can claim his title, but feels that powerful enemies in government and the boxing world are frustrating the effort.

This is a sensitive issue for more obvious reasons. Although there is a code among boxers and all who take up the sport know the risks, the death is a heavy burden. When asked about this in front of the camera he answers that he would like a moment of repose, before replying. They were rivals, but friends, and fought each other as boxers for years. Saidi was older, and kind of his teacher. The fight was long and hard and Kibomango tells of it from round to round. I’ve seen a video of the combat and it was, indeed, a close run affair, and also a sorrowful spectacle. A close up image of the brave but doomed, Saidi, wiping blood from a wound above his eye during a break in one of the latter rounds, looking worn, even fateful, but refusing to concede as his manager then advised, is one of the most compelling sporting moments this writer has ever seen. When he achieves success as a boxer, Kibomango says, he will devote his earnings to helping Saidi’s family, who are now Fatherless.

Kibomango is a poor man without great education. But this ex-child soldier is an obviously intelligent man—his thoughts are clear and well expressed and there is honesty and humility in the delivery rather than the arrogance and bravado of a sports star. Professional athletes have an innate athletic intelligence that is a fusion of instinct, ability and indomitable self-will. Unprompted Kibomango explains what it means to be a professional boxer, that it is not just one aspect of your life it is the only one—something you must think about and be aware of at all times.

A boxer’s mission is to serve their metier and achieve their destiny. They are not programmed to do anything else. At age 32 he is aware that he has an opportunity that will not last, and explains what he knows his fate to be, that his strength will peak and decline and other, younger, boxers will come along who will slowly gain on him, wear him down and defeat him. Before then he must devote his energies and self-will toward rising to the top of his field, in his country, in Africa, in the world, that he wants to compete at the highest levels of the sport, travel to the United States; eventually end as a trainer.

There is a beautiful tale being revealed here: amid the chaos and suffering of the Congo the human spirit is very much alive. Here in what may be the toughest country in the world, Kibomango is a determined and ambitious athlete in the blood sport of boxing, the hardest, most punishing and most unforgiving pursuit a man can take up. It is knowledge of this, perhaps, and a life of hardship, that seems to enhance not diminish his humanity. This man from the slums does not abuse his power to intimidate, is no gangster or thug, but is a righteous figure who helps his community, is a youth leader and a role model. Who knows if these athletic ambitions will ever be realised, but it is the knowledge of them that is most inspiring—like romantic poetry, the beauty is in the desire as much as the fulfilment.