Witboy in Africa. Deon Maas

But I did grasp immediately where the fighting at the roadblock was leading. I ran back to the bakkie to find the security chief standing next to the vehicle with his pistol against the soldier’s head and the soldier’s AK47 against his. I began to plead with them and took the bottle of whisky from the bakkie as a peace offering for the soldier. I had some success in calming everyone down and at last I got the security chief back into the bakkie. At that point I demanded to GO BACK IMMEDIATELY. The details of that particular conversation were lost in the adrenaline of the moment.

      I regained consciousness when we entered Goma just after sunset, where the security chief demanded another beer. I could see the lights of my hotel beyond the security post. I left him there and had a huge fight at the control point until my passport was back in my hands. The next morning the security chief – who clearly didn’t sleep a wink – woke me with an incessant knocking on my door. By then the whisky bottle looked like a natural extension of his hand. He wanted his safe pass letter.

      A few hours later I was on an aircraft back to South Africa. Nyiragongo, the volcano near Goma erupted some years later. For some reason the lava missed Gisenyi, but flattened Goma. I secretly hoped that a certain security chief was busy drinking there when it happened.

      The Rwandan anthem is entitled Rwanda Nziza, which means “Rwanda the beautiful”. In Zulu siza means to help or aid someone. I have always found the similarity between these two words very ironic.

[1] The 1994 genocide was instigated by the Hutus and lasted about four months. It was brought to an end when a Tutsi rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front, defeated the Hutu-controlled army. Because they feared the Tutsis’ revenge thousands of Hutus fled to the Congo. They were interned in refugee camps, which caused another humanitarian crisis.