Nicolas Abel Bayona Ba Meya or Bayona Ba Meya Muna Kimvimba (25 November 1938 – 26 August 1998) was a Congolese jurist who served as First President of the Supreme Court of Justice of Zaire from 1975 until 1983.
Nicolas Bayona Ba Meya | |
|---|---|
| First President of the Supreme Court of Justice of Zaire | |
| In office 1975–1983 | |
| President | Mobutu Sese Seko |
| Preceded by | Marcel Lihau |
| Succeeded by | Kalala Ilunga |
| Justice of the Supreme Court of Justice of Zaire | |
| In office 14 August 1968 – 1975 | |
| Judge of the Court of Appeal of Lubumbashi | |
| In office 23 July 1966 – 14 August 1968 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Nicolas Bayonne 25 November 1938 Voka, Bas-Congo, Belgian Congo |
| Died | 26 August 1998 (aged 59) |
| Alma mater | Lovanium University |
Biography edit
Nicolas Bayona Ba Meya was born as Nicolas Bayonne on 25 November 1938 in Voka, Bas-Congo, Belgian Congo. He studied humanities at a minor seminary in Kibula at the College Notre-Dame de Mbanza-Mboma from 1952 until 1960.[1] He earned a law degree from Lovanium University four years later.[2] On 23 July 1966 Bayona was appointed to serve as a judge for the Court of Appeal of Lubumbashi. On 14 August 1968 he was removed from his post and appointed to the Supreme Court of Justice.[3] In 1969 he earned his doctorate in law from Lovanium. Afterwards he became a professor and in 1971 became the dean of faculty of law at the Kinshasa campus of the National University of Zaire (formerly Lovanium).[2]
In 1975, when the International Court of Justice was considering a case concerning the transfer of power in Western Sahara, Bayona submitted his opinion to the court on the legal principle of terra nullius, which entails that a state may assume sovereignty over any unclaimed territory. He criticised terra nullius as materialistic and a contributory factor to the partition of Africa among European empires. He instead posited that a spiritual, ancestral connection between a plot of land and the people born of it offered a stronger basis for claims to sovereignty.[4]
Bayona served as the First President of the Supreme Court of Justice from 1975 until 1983.[5] In March 1996 he was made President of the Commission Nationale des Élections, a body designed to ensure the establishment of a free election by 1997 in Zaire as part of a democratic transition under President Mobutu Sese Seko. Opposition groups regarded Bayona as a puppet of Mobutu and doubted his ability to fairly oversee the process. The commission was disbanded in May 1997 after Laurent-Désiré Kabila seized power. He died on 26 August 1998.[2]
Citations edit
- ^ Mulumba & Makombo 1986, p. 43.
- ^ a b c Kisangani 2016, p. 93.
- ^ "Ordonnance d'organisation Judiciaire no 68-325 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. p. 1406.
- ^ Okere 1979, p. 306.
- ^ Revue du CRIP 2002, p. 234.
References edit
- "Albert MULUMBA Munanga". Revue du CRIP (1). Kinshasa: Centre de recherches interdisciplinaires et de publications. 2002. OCLC 718496357.
- Kisangani, Emizet Francois (2016). Historical Dictionary of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (4th ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781442273160.
- Mulumba, Mabi; Makombo, Mutamba (1986). Cadres et dirigeants au Zaïre, qui sont-ils?: dictionnaire biographique (in French). Kinshasa: Editions du Centre de recherches pédagogiques. OCLC 462124213.
- Okere, B. O. (April 1979). "The Western Sahara Case". The International and Comparative Law Quarterly. 28 (2). Cambridge University Press: 296–312. doi:10.1093/iclqaj/28.2.296. ISSN 0020-5893. JSTOR 758602.