Victor Promontorio
{{Short description|Congolese jurist (1912–1973)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Victor Promontorio
|image = File:First_Congolese_President_of_the_Bar_Victor_Promontorio.png
|caption =
|office = President of the Bar of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
|president = Mobutu Sese Seko
|term_start =
|term_end =
|birth_name = {{birth date|1912|07|29|df=y}}
|birth_place = Kintambo, Léopoldville, Belgian Congo
|death_date = 1973
|death_place =
|party = Assoreco
|spouse =
|children =
|alma_mater =Catholic University of Leuven
}}
Victor Promontorio, or Seya Tshibangu (29 July 1912 – 1973) was a Congolese jurist and politician. In 1935, he became the first Congolese individual to graduate from university.{{Cite book |title=The Rise and Decline of the Zairian State |last=Young |first=Crawford |year=1985 |pages=79 |last2=Turner |first2=Thomas Edwin |author-link=M. Crawford Young}}
Early life and career
Victor Promontorio was born in 1912 in Kintambo, municipality of Léopoldville in the Belgian Congo, to an Italian father and a Congolese mother.{{Cite web |url=https://www.mbokamosika.com/2016/02/victor-promontorio-premier-universitaire-congolais-diplome-en-belgique.html |title=Victor Promontorio, premier universitaire congolais diplômé en Belgique |date=2016-02-07 |access-date=2022-05-05 |last=Malonga |first=Samuel}} When his mother died in 1919, his father, a well-known merchant at the time, sent him to Brussels, Belgium, where he studied at the Saint-Louis Institute.{{Cite book |title=Les institutions dans la constitutions congolaise |last=Promontorio |first=Victor |publisher=Concordia |year=1965 |page=back cover|language=fr |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FZ4NAQAAIAAJ&q}} In July 1935, he obtained his Doctorate in Law at the University of Leuven, thereby becoming the first Congolese university graduate.{{Cite book |title=Les institutions dans la constitutions congolaise |last=Promontorio |first=Victor |publisher=Concordia |year=1965 |page=back cover|language=fr |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FZ4NAQAAIAAJ&q}}{{Cite book |title=The Rise and Decline of the Zairian State |last=Young |first=Crawford |year=1985 |pages=79 |last2=Turner |first2=Thomas Edwin |author-link=M. Crawford Young}}{{Cite journal |title=Le Congo-Kinshasa (République Démocratique du Congo) |journal=Revue française d'histoire d'outre-mer |url=https://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/outre_0300-9513_1969_num_56_203_1482.pdf |last=Cornevin |first=Robert |volume=56 |pages=177 |issue=203 |year=1969}} In February 1936, he started his career as a lawyer at the Brussels bar, until 1960.{{Cite web |url=https://www.mbokamosika.com/2016/02/victor-promontorio-premier-universitaire-congolais-diplome-en-belgique.html |title=Victor Promontorio, premier universitaire congolais diplômé en Belgique |date=2016-02-07 |access-date=2022-05-05 |last=Malonga |first=Samuel}}
Legal and political career
File:Ronde Tafel Conferentie te Brussel Congo, Bestanddeelnr 910-9593.jpg
In 1960, two Belgo-Congolese Round Table Conferences were organised in order to discuss the road towards Congolese independence. The Congolese side was represented by the different political parties of the country such as Patrice Lumumba's Mouvement National Congolais and Joseph Kasa-Vubu's ABAKO. Promontorio became a political adviser to Jean Bolikango's Association des Ressortisants du Haut-Congo (ASSORECO) during the Economic Roundtable Conference.{{Cite journal |title=Les conseillers à la Table ronde belgo-congolaise |journal=Courrier hebdomadaire du CRISP |url=https://www.cairn.info/revue-courrier-hebdomadaire-du-crisp-1989-38-page-1.htm#pa251 |volume=38-9 |pages=250-1 |issue=1263-4 |year=1989}}
After the Conference, Promontorio moved to Congo, where he became a senator{{Cite journal |title=Les conseillers à la Table ronde belgo-congolaise |journal=Courrier hebdomadaire du CRISP |url=https://www.cairn.info/revue-courrier-hebdomadaire-du-crisp-1989-38-page-1.htm#pa251 |volume=38-9 |pages=250-1 |issue=1263-4 |year=1989}} for the Équateur Province with the support of the {{ill|National Unity Party (Democratic Republic of the Congo)|lt=National Unity Party|fr|Parti de l'unité nationale (république démocratique du Congo)}}, which absorbed Assoreco.{{Cite book |title=Les institutions dans la constitutions congolaise |last=Promontorio |first=Victor |publisher=Concordia |year=1965 |page=back cover|language=fr |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FZ4NAQAAIAAJ&q}}{{Cite journal |title=Le Congo-Kinshasa (République Démocratique du Congo) |journal=Revue française d'histoire d'outre-mer |url=https://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/outre_0300-9513_1969_num_56_203_1482.pdf |last=Cornevin |first=Robert |volume=56 |pages=177 |issue=203 |year=1969}} When the Léopoldville Bar, first Bar in the independent Congo, was established, Promontorio became the first President of the Léopoldville Bar.{{Cite web |url=https://www.mbokamosika.com/2016/02/victor-promontorio-premier-universitaire-congolais-diplome-en-belgique.html |title=Victor Promontorio, premier universitaire congolais diplômé en Belgique |date=2016-02-07 |access-date=2022-05-05 |last=Malonga |first=Samuel}}{{Cite web |url=https://barreaudelagombe.cd/anciens-batonniers/ |title=Anciens bâtonniers |access-date=2022-05-05 |website={{ill|Bar of Kinshasa Gombe|fr|Barreau de Kinshasa Gombe}}}}
Promontorio was reelected as a senator for the Moyen-Congo Province during the legislative election in 1965. As a lawyer, he pleaded for Kudia Kubanza, Auditor General who was accused during the LICOPA affair. Shortly thereafter, he returned to Europe.{{Cite web |url=https://www.mbokamosika.com/2016/02/victor-promontorio-premier-universitaire-congolais-diplome-en-belgique.html |title=Victor Promontorio, premier universitaire congolais diplômé en Belgique |date=2016-02-07 |access-date=2022-05-05 |last=Malonga |first=Samuel}}
Publications
- {{Cite book |title=Les institutions dans la constitutions congolaise |last=Promontorio |first=Victor |publisher=Concordia |year=1965 |language=fr |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FZ4NAQAAIAAJ&q}}
Further reading
- {{Cite book |title=Congo 1955-1960: Recueil d'études - Verzameling studies |last=Brassinne |first=Jacques |publisher=Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences |year=1992 |location=Brussels |pages=152 |language=fr |url=http://www.kaowarsom.be/documents/PUBLICATIONS/CONGO%201955-1960%20VERZAMELING%20STUDIES.pdf |chapter=Les "conseillers" des délégations congolaises à la Conférence de la table ronde (20 janvier - 20 février 1960) [Victor Promontorio, conseiller de l'Assoreco] |author-link=Jacques Brassinne de La Buissière}}
References
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