BIG RIFT IN AFRICA BOXING WITH TWO PRESIDENTS IN CHARGE.

A simmering wrangle in Africa boxing exploded in Dubai with DR Congo’s federation president Ferdinand Ilunga Luyoyo’s faction boycotting the Africa Boxing Confederation (AFBC) Congress because they don’t recognize the constitutionally-elected President Eyassu Berhanu.

While Berhanu has dismissed Luyoyo as a rouble rouser and made it clear he’s imposing himself in power, Luyoyo insists he’s the bona fide AFBC president following a meeting held in Kinshasa in October in which they passed a vote of no confidence on Berhanu’s leadership accusing the Ethiopian of, among other things, dividing AFBC members, failure to implement his election promises, inaccessibility and imposing leaders on national federations.

International Boxing Associating (IBA), reacting to Luyoyo’s “coup” in Kinshasa during the AFBC African Men’s and Women’s Championships, dismissed the meeting as unconstitutional and said Berhanu remains the constitutionally-elected president of AFBC. In his line-up, Luyoyo has Moroccan Zoubida Wissam and Tanzania’s Lukelo Anderson Willilo as his vice president and Cameroon’s Andre Basile Kalong as the secretary-general.

Basile served in the same capacity under the ousted president Bertram Mendouga who was removed by the BoD during last year’s Africa Championships. He was accused of high-handedness and financial impropriety including “eating” prize money of boxers from Zambia, Mozambique and Algeria which had unofficially joined World Boxing.

The big rift in AFBC has also spread to the Board of Directors. BoD members allied to Berhanu are Botswana’s Irene Ntelemo who is also the head of the inactive AFBC’s women’s diversity commission, Eswatini’s federation president Webster Lukhele, South Africa National Boxing Organisation president Siyabulela Mkwalo and Awil Gele, the vice president of Somali Boxing Federation.

General Luyoyo’s loyalists in the BoD are Boxing Federation of Tanzania president Lukelo Willilo, Morocco’s federation secretary-general Zoubida Wissam, Senegal Boxing Federation secretary-general Anta Gueye and Burundi Boxing Federation president Eric Ndayishimie. Vocal Angolan David Pina, who has been reinstated as Ethics Commission chairman, is with the Luyoyo team while former AFBC acting president Azania Omo-Agene and Niger’s ousted president Issoufou Abdou Malam are Berhanu’s sympathisers. Malam insists he’s still the head of the Niger federation, an assertion backed by Guinea’s president Alpha Amadou Balde who has been accused by the Luyoyo faction of leading Berhanu to the ditch as his adviser not to mention arrogantly dismissing a suspension slapped on him by the disciplinary committee, allegations the Guinean senior military officer has treated with the contempt they deserve.

Azania had fallen out with AFBC president Berhanu following his suspension by the Berhanu regime but they have since mended fences, and now the towering Nigerian is Berhanu’s avid supporter, consistently shouting from the rooftop about Berhanu’s achievements as the leader of the African body and belittling Luyoyo’s faction as power-hungry non-achievers whom he has advised to wait for the 2026 AFBC elections to remove Berhanu from power through the ballot and not through their illegal meeting they held in Kinshasa

The rift in the beleaguered African body further escalated at the IBA Congress in Dubai when the current Cameroon Boxing Federation president Professor Binyam Pierre Rene and Angola’s federation president Simao Muanda – allegedly installed to power by Berhanu according to the rebel hardliners of Luyoyo – were barred from attending the Congress. They stood outside hurling vitriolic attacks at their perceived enemies on what had transpired.

A furious Rene said Andre Basile Kalong ceased to be the secretary general of the Cameroonian federation and therefore he was not supposed to be a delegate at the IBA Congress. The Cameroon federation president told boxersworld.co.ke that Basile has been declared persona non-grata in Cameroon and that’s why he has now relocated to DR Congo under the patronage of General Luyoyo.

Contacted, Basile laughed off Rene’s allegations, describing him as a desperate person dreaming of being the president of the Cameroon Federation.

“The man was elected in a fake roadside meeting, he’s Berhanu’s stooge and he knows it. Until legitimate elections are held I’m still the Cameroon Federation secretary-general that’s why IBA invited me to their Congress and locked out the fake president.”

Basile denied he has relocated to DR Congo.” I’m still in my country, I flew from Cameroon to Dubai, and I was in DRC for an official function in my capacity as the AFBC secretary-general.”

The AFBC acting secretary-general under president Berhanu, Yohanes Birhane however clarified they recognize Professor Rene and Simao Muanda as the legitimate presidents of Cameroon and Angola respectively, and that Basile is still under suspension.

Luyoyo’s faction has said they will continue running their show as the legitimate leaders of AFBC despite not being recognized by the IBA. It will be interesting to see how they will conduct their affairs in African boxing which now has two presidents, Eyassu Berhanu and General Ilunga Luyoyo both claiming legitimacy.

Observers are at a loss as to why the Luyoyo faction boycotted the Dubai AFBC Congress instead of attending the function to express their dissatisfaction with the Berhanu regime. Their action has been viewed as disrespectful to IBA which catered for the travel and accommodation expenses for most of them. The Luyoyo rebel group had reportedly been planning to land the killer punch on Berhanu at the AFBC Congress in Dubai but it’s not known how they were going to do it, and instead shot themselves in the foot by staying out of the Congress. They held their own parallel Congress in Dubai during which they endorsed the removal of Berhanu, suspension of Balde and Azania including the ouster of Niger’s Malam as the federation president.

Explaining why they boycotted the Berhanu-backed AFBC Congress, the secretary general of the Luyoyo faction, Andrew Basile Kalong, said they could not attend a function having illegal officials in power from Cameroon, Angola, suspended Guinean president Alpha Balde and Berhanu himself whom they claim to have removed from power in the Kinshasa meeting in October.

“It’s ridiculous Eyassu claims his congress was attended by 32 delegates, that’s a lie, he had about 18 delegates,” said Basile.

“Our Congress was attended by 27 delegates, we have the numbers, 21 were present and six attended through Zoom,” said Basile.

Against this background, it’s obvious things have fallen apart in African boxing. This is a serious issue in which the boxing barons cannot continue hiding their heads in the sand in a vain bid to run away from reality. IBA will now have to use the big stick to bring order once and for all in African boxing. The formation of a Normalisation Committee for the stipulated six months will be the most suitable to sort out the current mess in AFBC.