Communication 302/05 - Mr Mamboleo M. Itundamilamba v. Democratic Republic of Congo
Summary of the Complaint
1. On 20 April 2005, the Secretariat of the African Commission on Human and
Peoples’ Rights received from Mr Mamboleo Mughuba Itundamilamba, a
Congolese citizen, a Communication submitted in accordance with Articles 55
and 56 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African
Charter).
2. The Communication was submitted against the Democratic Republic of
Congo (State Party to the African Charter and hereafter referred to as the
DRC).1
3. The Complainant has been a member of the National Bar Association since 12
October 1965 and is a member of the Bar of the Bukavu Court of Appeal.
4. The Complainant alleges to have unsuccessfully sought from the Pharmakina
Company, a public limited company, the payment of fees for services
rendered in connection with the retrocession from the estate of the latter of
several cinchona plantations that had, at the time, been transferred to
Congolese nationals pursuant to presidential decisions of November 1973.
Pharmakina Company acknowledges to have been rendered the said services,
but alleges on the contrary to have already settled the Complainant’s fees.
5. The Complainant further states that after the failure of negotiations for an
amicable settlement, he brought the dispute before the Bar Council in Bukavu
and to the National Bar Council in Kinshasa. The latter body rendered
Arbitral Award No. 98/CNO/LH/006 of 1 April 1998 ordering Pharmakina
Company to pay the Complainant the sum of 500,000 (five hundred
thousand) U.S. dollars.
6. The Complainant further alleges that Pharmakina Company lodged an
appeal for an annulment of the award with the Administrative Chamber of
the Supreme Court of the DRC which, by Judgement No. 444/445/452 RA
2000 of 17 April 2000, annulled the above-mentioned Decision No.
98/CNO/LH/006 handed down by the National Bar Council.
7. The President of the Bar Association instituted third-party proceedings (filed
under No. RA/667/2001), on behalf of the Complainant, before the
1
The Democratic Republic of Congo ratified the African Charter on 20 July 1987.