Léon Kengo wa Dondo
Léon Kengo | |
|---|---|
President of the Senate of Congo | |
| In office 11 May 2007 – 5 April 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Pierre Marini Bodho |
| Succeeded by | Léon Mamboleo |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Leon Lubicz 22 May 1935[1] Libenge (Équateur province), Belgian Congo |
| Political party | |
| Alma mater | Université libre de Bruxelles (1962–1968, PhD in Law) |
Léon Kengo wa Dondo (born Leon Lubicz; 22 May 1935) is a
Senate of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2007 to 2019.[3]
Early life
Kengo was born in
Rwandan mother.[4][5] He changed his name to Kengo wa Dondo in 1971 during Mobutu's Africanization (Authenticité
) campaign.
Career
On 11 April 1968 Kengo was appointed Procureur Général of the Kinshasa Court of Appeal. On 14 August he was promoted to Procureur Général of the
Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution, the state party, was the most independent branch in comparison to its counterparts. He also said that a magistrate's prerogative to construe law was "a breach in the plenary powers exercised by the President."[7]
Prime Minister of Mobutu
After serving as
conflict diamonds
, though the credibility of such actions is perhaps challenged by the fact that trade in conflict diamonds from Angola had long been essential to the survival of the Mobutu regime, in which Kengo had been such an important figure.
Shortly after the beginning of the Congo civil war, in December 1996, Kengo became the leader of a crisis cabinet which sought to defeat the rebellion of
Laurent Kabila. He was undermined by many Mobutu supporters because of his Tutsi origins, as Kabila's rebels were allied with the Tutsi governments of Rwanda and Burundi. As Kabila's armies advanced through the country, Kengo was also criticized for not conducting the war very well. He announced his resignation in March 1997 and left office in April 1997. The Mobutu government fell a month later, and Kengo retired from politics. In 2003, he was charged with money laundering in Belgium.[8][9]
President of the Senate of Congo
Senate
with Kengo presidingFollowing his return to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kengo backed
2015 Congolese protests he met with American, Belgian, British and French diplomats who urged him to either suspend debate and voting on the election modifying law or to remove its controversial provisions.[12] He served as Senate president until 5 April 2019.[3]
Citations
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Léon Kengo.
- ^ Official birth date mentioned on his candidacy file for the 2011 presidential elections: Kengo wa Dondo Léon, Radio Okapi, 28 September 2011
- ^ "Zaire's Prime Minister Gives in to Parliament and Resigns Post". Los Angeles Times. 25 March 1997.
- ^ a b "Democratic Republic of the Congo". New Parline: the IPU’s Open Data Platform (beta). 5 July 2018.
- The Bulletin(Brussels), 26 February 2004
- ISBN 978-1-85065-372-1
- ^ "Ordonnance d'organisation Judiciaire no 68-326 du 14 août 1968" (PDF). Moniteur Congolais (in French). Vol. 9, no. 16. Kinshasa: Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 14 August 1968. pp. 1406–1407. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
- ^ Mutua & Rosenblum 1990, p. 38.
- ^ Blanchiment d’argent : l’ancien Premier ministre Kengo inculpé à Bruxelles, Le Soft online, 25 June 2003.
- ^ Vers de nouvelles inculpations à Bruxelles ?, La Libre Belgique, 27 June 2003.
- ^ a b "RDCongo: élection surprise d'un ancien mobutiste à la tête du Sénat", Agence France-Presse, 11 May 2007.
- ^ a b "DRC : Opponent elected Senate president"[permanent dead link], African Press Agency, 11 May 2007.
- ^ "West urges Congo to suspend new election law after deadly protests". Reuters. 22 January 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
References
- Mutua, Makau wa; Rosenblum, Peter (1990). Zaire: repression as policy : a human rights report. New York: ISBN 9780934143356.
