BUTEMBO, RD Congo, MILAAT+APP/AFP) – In DR Congo’s war-infested
Great Lakes region, carpenter-turned-sculptor Sauveur Mulwana has left a trail of monumental statues over the past decade as part of his self-styled mission to revive local history and boost peace.
The 42-year-old moved back home to Butembo, a teeming city of more
than a million near the borders of Uganda, Rwanda and Uganda, when his carpentry business was razed by the eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano in the city of Goma.
Butembo is home to the ethnic Nande people of Democratic Republic of
Congo and Uganda, so it follows that one of the most eye-catching works by Mulwana — himself a Nande — is an immense portrayal of the Nande king.
Set on a bright blue pedestal on a city roundabout, it shows mwami
(king) Kighombwe II Lusengo Kirugho, who died in his 80s in 2010 after a lengthy reign, wearing a western-style suit as he stares into the distance.