Ekila Liyonda
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Ekila Liyonda
| image =
| office = Minister of Foreign Affairs of Zaire
| country = Zaire
| term_start = 1987
| term_end = 1988
| president = Mobutu Sese Seko
| predecessor = Léon Kengo
| successor = Jean Nguza Karl-i-Bond
| birth_date={{birth date|df=yes|1948|10|16}}
| birth_place=Leopoldville, Belgian Congo
| death_date={{death date and age|df=yes|2006|6|23|1948|10|16}}
| death_place=Brussels, Belgium}}
Adrienne Ekila Liyonda (16 October 1948 – 23 June 2006) was a Zairean (now DRC) politician who served as ambassador to Belgium and was the country's first female Foreign minister.
Early life and education
Liyonda was born on 16 October 1948 in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa). She attended secondary school at the Lycée Sainte Marie-Theerèse before graduating from the Catholic University of Louvain with a Bachelor of Laws in 1974.
Career
Liyonda worked as a legal advisor to the Zaire Press Agency from 1974 until 1976 and was a member of the Board of directors of Gécamines and of the Permanent Commission for the Reform of Zaire Law. In 1976 she became a legal advisor in the Office of President Mobutu Sese Seko. She was appointed Secretary General of the nationalist unity party Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution in 1981. In 1985, she was appointed Secretary General in charge of Women's Affairs and State Commissioner for Women's Affairs and Social Affairs.{{cite book|page=69|title=Sub-Saharan Africa Report, Issues 84–91|publisher=Foreign Broadcast Information Service|year=1984|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BJIEAQAAIAAJ}}
Liyonda was appointed Ambassador to Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg in 1985. She returned to Zaire in 1987 and entered the Mobutu government as Minister of Foreign Affairs,{{cite book|page=1616|title=The Statesman's Year-Book 1987–88|first=J.|last=Paxton|year=2016|publisher=Springer|isbn=9780230271166|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Li8DQAAQBAJ}} making her the country's first female foreign affairs minister.{{cite book|title=Gender and the Political Economy of Conflict in Africa: The persistence of violence| first=Meredeth| last=Turshen| publisher=Routledge| year=2016| isbn=9781317636540| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K0d-CwAAQBAJ}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/10/nyregion/zaire-mission-s-debts-in-new-york-prompt-concern-at-un.html|title=Zaire Mission's Debts in New York Prompt Concern at U.N.|first=Paul|last=Lewis|work=The New York Times|date=10 January 1988|accessdate=4 March 2017}} In this role she was a signatory to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights.{{cite report|title=African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights|place=Nairobi, Kenya|date=28 December 1988|url=https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%201520/volume-1520-I-26363-English.pdf|publisher=Organization of African Unity}} In 1988 she became Minister of Information and Press{{cite book|page=1615|title=The Statesman's Year-Book 1989–90|first=J.|last=Paxton|publisher=Springer|year=2016|isbn=9780230271180|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h03ODQAAQBAJ}}{{cite book|page=473|title=West Africa, Issues 3673–3688|publisher=Afrimedia International|year=1988|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yy0OAQAAMAAJ}} serving until 1990.
During the growing conflict of the 1990s, Liyonda became a member of the Union of Democrats and Independents and was the Federal President for Kinshasa. After the arrival of Laurent-Désiré Kabila and the AFDL in May 1997, she returned to live in Belgium.{{cite web|url=http://www.panapress.com/Deces-a-Bruxelles-de-l-ancienne-ministre-congolaise-des-AE--13-634968-18-lang2-index.html|title=Décès à Bruxelles de l'ancienne ministre congolaise des AE|publisher=Panapress|date=28 June 2006|accessdate=4 March 2017|language=French}}
Liyonda died in Brussels on 23 June 2006. She was buried in the Gombe cemetery.{{cite web|language=French|title=Ultime Hommage à feu l'Ambassadeur Ekila Liyonda (ACP)|date=5 July 2006|url=http://www.congoforum.be/fr/nieuwsdetail.asp?subitem=1&newsid=12394&Actualiteit=selected|work=Congo Forum|accessdate=4 March 2017|archive-date=5 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305034454/http://www.congoforum.be/fr/nieuwsdetail.asp?subitem=1&newsid=12394&Actualiteit=selected|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|language=French|url=http://www.congoindependant.com/article.php?articleid=1705|title=Décès à Bruxelles de Mme Ekila Liyonda|date=28 June 2006|accessdate=4 March 2017|work=Congo Indépendant|archive-date=4 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170304200825/http://www.congoindependant.com/article.php?articleid=1705|url-status=dead}}
References
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Category:Female foreign ministers
Category:Women government ministers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Category:20th-century Democratic Republic of the Congo women politicians
Category:20th-century Democratic Republic of the Congo politicians
Category:Ambassadors of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Belgium
Category:Ambassadors of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the Netherlands
Category:Ambassadors of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Luxembourg
Category:Ministers of foreign affairs of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Category:Université catholique de Louvain alumni
Category:Popular Movement of the Revolution politicians
Category:Democratic Republic of the Congo women diplomats
Category:21st-century Democratic Republic of the Congo politicians