Abdoulaye Yerodia Ndombasi (; 5 January 1933 – 19 February 2019) was a Congolese politician who served in the government of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1999 to 2000 and as

Vice-President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

from 2003 to December 2006.

Political career

As a supporter of President

Laurent-Désiré Kabila Laurent-Désiré Kabila () (27 November 1939 – 18 January 2001) or simply Laurent Kabila ( US: ), was a Congolese revolutionary and politician who was the third President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1997 until his assassinati ...

, he was appointed Director of the Cabinet of the President on 22 December 1997, taking office on 2 January 1998. Subsequently, he was

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

from March 15, 1999, until late 2000. In 2003 he became one of the four vice-presidents of Congo under the transitional government as mandated by a peace settlement with rebel groups and opposition parties. He was nominated to the post in April 2003 by President

Joseph Kabila Joseph Kabila Kabange ( , ; born 4 June 1971) is a Congolese politician who served as President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between January 2001 and January 2019. He took office ten days after the assassination of his father, Presi ...

, as the vice-president representing the Kabila government. He served until 2006. In subsequent years he served as a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. Yerodia died in

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

on February 19, 2019, aged 86.

The Arrest Warrant Case (Congo vs. Belgium)

Yerodia was involved in a precedent-setting case by the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...

(ICJ). In 1998, Yerodia publicly encouraged the Congolese population to kill members of a rebellion against the government, primarily

ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

Tutsis The Tutsi (), or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi (the other two being the largest Bantu ethnic grou ...

. In response,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

issued an international

arrest warrant An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual, or the search and seizure of an individual's property. Canada Arrest warrants are issued by a j ...

based on a new Belgian law (known as the Belgian Universal Jurisdiction Law, since repealed) allowing Belgian courts to prosecute international crimes, charging Yerodia with inciting genocide. The Congolese government responded by filing an application against Belgium to the ICJ, claiming that Belgium did not have jurisdiction and that Yerodia enjoyed

diplomatic immunity Diplomatic immunity is a principle of international law by which certain foreign government officials are recognized as having legal immunity from the jurisdiction of another country.

as foreign minister. This case, known as the Warrant Case, was decided in Congo's favor. During the proceedings of the case, the Congo dropped its jurisdiction arguments and the case was decided solely on Yerodia's diplomatic immunity as foreign minister. However, some

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

groups saw this decision as a blow to

universal jurisdiction Universal jurisdiction is a legal principle that allows states or international organizations to claim criminal jurisdiction over an accused person regardless of where the alleged crime was committed, and regardless of the accused's nationality, ...

.ICJ rejects Belgian arrest warrant for foreign ministers of Democratic Republic of Congo
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ndombasi, Abdoulaye Yerodia 1933 births 2019 deaths Vice-presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Government ministers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy politicians Members of the Senate (Democratic Republic of the Congo) 21st-century Democratic Republic of the Congo people