Italic: Commentary, OFF-dialog.
Normal: ON-dialog (“direct”)
Fat: INTERTITLES and Chapters

(Rolling title:)

“Why do Hutus and Tutsis kill each other,
who are the victims and who are the real
culprits in a complicated war? (...)

You shouldn’t expect this film
to provide easy answers to such questions.
This is not just another white man’s
view of Black Africa.

In Sauper’s documentary,
the camera helps us see.
It simply shows us the cruelty of man...”

Jean Rouch

(Black. three standing titles:)
official selection of:
48th international film festival
Berlin 1998
cinéma du réel, Paris 1998

Awards:
cinéma du réel, Paris
Centaur, St. Petersburg
Special mention, Karlovy Vary

A
Hubert Sauper
and
Nikolaus Geyrhalter
Production

Kisangani Diary

This is a film about people on the run.

It is a count from I. to X.

By the time you see it, most of those in the film will be dead.

We are on the shore of the Congo river,

five kilometers away from the equator.

It is the end of March, 1997.

It’s war. War over Zaire, ex-Belgian Congo, poor-rich country.

A lot is being talked about.

And nobody really knows what is happening. Nobody.

INTERTITLE:

two days earlier

INTERTITLE:

I. Destination: Ubundu

We are squatting in a rusty goods train,

that has not been running for ten years.

Two refugee-experts from the UN, some guys from the Red Cross,

a handful of French TV people, Zsuzsanna and myself.

The forest we are entering has the size of Central Europe.

In this jungle, half a million people are “lost”.

The ones we are trying to find are Hutus from distant Rwanda.

These people were knowingly forgotten,

written off by the rest of the world.

Kisangani Diary

24 hours for eighty kilometers.

We got stopped by the military, whom we are not allowed to film.

INTERTITLE:

First traces: Abandoned refugee-camps

I was on the other side of the river

when it happened.

They say, there were shootings in the camp.

There were killings and so on.

I was not here.

When was that?

It was Tuesday morning,

they say...

C.François
RED CROSS ZAIRE

INTERTITLE:

II. Far from Rwanda

We have the strange feeling of entering a prohibited zone,

of not being prepared for what awaits us.

We try to understand:

the Rwandan mountains, where the Hutus come from,

lie on the other side of the rainforest, 1000 km from here.

In 1994, after the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsis,

these people were collectively treated as murderers.

Since that time, they live on the run.

Beneath human dignity, they know hunger, persecution and death.

Kisangani Diary

In front of our eyes appear the people who,

according to an official report of the UN, did not exist!

The problem is, many die from hunger

here along the road.

Bodies everywhere.

Were there military attacks?

Yes, in the camp.

They attacked our camp!

— Which one?
— In Ubundu.

Who attacked?

Military—we don’t know which,
because it was 4 or 5 in the morning.

With bombs?

Yes, with bombs—and machine guns.

INTERTITLE:
27 march 1997, “Kilomètre 82”

There was gunfire near Ubilo, last night.
Nobody knows who was shooting.
At least four armed groups are around:
Interahamwe, ex-FAR, the Zaïren military, and now Kabila’s AFDL.

INTERTITLE:

The locals say there are thousands of refugees very close.
The main victims.
Olivier, a villager, organizes a “private hospital:”

INTERTITLE:

III. Far from here

It’s very violent, very powerful.

We were on the first train

trying to find the lost people. It worked.

Kisangani Diary

It’s really good.

The train has no permission
to go to Ubundu

It’s urgent. We’re the only TV crew.

Is it a film about journalist’s private life?

Are you watering your little plants?

No, I am not fine.

Look for yourself, doctor.

I am not a “doctor,”
I am an epidemiologist.

This woman has diarrhea

—With blood?
— Yes.

Is it malaria ?

Get up!

This is our medical assistant
He’s consulting patients

Is there any medication?

No more, nothing!

29 kilos
(63 pounds)

It is useless to continue
without any medication

INTERTITLE:
IV. Come closer

Ok, the living first!

As many as you can find

We’ll collect the bodies later.

Go up the hill,

and along the river.

You can even take the wheelbarrow..

Kisangani Diary

More stretchers!
Kilian Kleinschmidt
UN—EMERGENCY OFFICER
You can take the wheelbarrow!

“RED CROSS ZAIRE”

Organize yourselves in sections!

The living ones first,
the bodies later!

That’s the best idea.

—Search systematically!
— Yes, indeed

Good Friday 199, 6:00 a.m.

Go away, move!

Camp “Ubilo”
two days after an attack

The head-bandage is for peace.

And this protects the nose.

Gas, gas.

The stink.

Show us the bullets

Bonjour!

What happened?

An injury from long walking

There are worms in my skin

And the baby?

The parents left him here,
they ran away.

Is he alive?

Yes, I think so.

He asks for food

He is not my baby.

Kisangani Diary

INTERTITLE:

The little boy
is carried to Olivier’s hospital.
There is no medicine, no drinking water, nothing to eat.
And no evacuation possible.

This boy will probably die.

Maybe some Mama will take the child under her roof.
But how many Mamas does a whole people on the run need?

INTERTITLE:

V. Follow the noise

Finally, the UN runs for help.

Two hours later, on our way back, a new image:

40.000 refugees gather along the track,

having heard the noise of the train the day before.

They are longing for help and protection.

They are being promised food,

and they are being promised repatriation to Rwanda.

Rwanda!

Take us away from here!

INTERTITLE:

VI. EU biscuits, US yellow peas

Here we are and we have got 35 tons

of medicines, biscuits, blankets, tents,

for Medicins sans Frontières in Belgium.

Well, we are receiving food from Mwanza, this is a WFP (UN) plane

It is an Illjushin and it is loaded every time with 35 metric tons

but it can take up to 45 tons of food.

att. into black space (!!!) : M. Diara, UN WORLD FOOD PROGRAM

Kisangani Diary

And we are receiving the food here and we will distribute it

to the most vulnerable, the IDPs* and refugees.
(*interior deplaced persons)
When is the next load going to the refugees?

We are just loading the train today and it is gonna leave tomorrow

to “Kilometer 25” and “42” and maybe to Ubundu also.

Why can the train not leave today?

Because this is logistical programming, we are waiting for our

some of—our partners so that we can load the train together.

So today it is not possible?

Today no train,

but we are loading the train today...

INTERTITLE:

No “security signature” from the rebels.
No diesel for train. Logistical problems.
On the Congo’s left shore, 100,000 are waiting.

INTERTITLE:

VII. for an eternity

He is two years old.
Seven kilos.

Biscuits and milk. Now.

NOW!

Biscuits are in the hospital.

The problem is: no more milk!

INTERTITLE:
Camp “Kasese” 15.April 1997

Population: 55.000
Death rate today: 127
Food supplied: 16 tons

The UNICEF collects 2,500 “non-accompanied children”
Their parents have died from starvation, have disappeared,
or were killed by soldiers.

Kisangani Diary

The boy is abandoned

He lost his father

and his mother.

Did he get some milk?

(SONG): Over there,

over the waters

there, over the bridge,

you sent me away,

into faraway lands,

and I think often back to you

INTERTITLE:

The UNHCR prepares to repatriate the refugees by air.
The first flight should have left Kisangani a week ago.

Logistical problems.

We hear Kabila’s rebel troops approach the capital: Kinshasa.

What is your name?

Stand still for he Photo!

What’s your name?

Don’t know.

The white guy’s crazy!

What the hell is there to film?

He is nuts!

INTERTITLE:

VIII. The passenger

Stop the fucking train!

Kisangani Diary

My voyage into the “prohibited zone”

ends in the army prison of Kisangani.

Kabila’s rebels accuse me of being a military spy.

The long voyage of the refugees ends forever.

They are being accused of belonging to the wrong tribe.

INTERTITLE:

IX. The last days

… there is no death,

because light will come...

Take picture!

INTERTITLE:

Five days before the massacre.
22,000 persons were airlifted to Kigali, Rwanda.
80,000 are captured on the Congo.

INTERTITLE:

X. The End

How do you feel?

Good.

INTERTITLE:

This film was shot during the birth
of the young “Democratic Republic”

INTERTITLE:

The shown refugee camps “Kasese” and “Biaro”
were attacked with machine guns during the night of April 22, 1997 by rebel troops of the AFDL,
the celebrated liberators of Congo Kinshasa.

Kisangani Diary

INTERTITLE:

11 July, 1997: An official UN report declares
that there have been 134 well-organised massacres
against the 200,000 “lost” Rwandan refugees
executed by the AFDL rebels.

The President of the young Democratic Republic of Congo,
Laurent Désire Kabila, is accused of
“ crimes against humanity.”
He denies any responsibility.

Final ROLLING TITLES