Marcel Lihau

On the eve of the Belgo-Congolese Round Table Conference in Brussels in January 1960, Lihau advised the Congolese political delegations to form a "Front Commun".[lower-alpha 5][1] They did, and the decision significantly strengthened their bargaining position with the Belgian government.[12] Lihau attended the political portion of the conference as an observer on behalf of the AGEC.[1] While there, he presented two papers compiled by the AGEC. The first, entitled "The Congo Before Independence", led the president of the conference to create one commission to discuss the future of the Congo's political institutions and another to address the upcoming elections. The second paper, entitled "The Internal Political Organisation of the Congo", compared the merits of Federalism and Unitarianism and proposed that the Congolese adopt one system or the other to ensure the future integrity of their country.[13] Before the conference dissolved, the Front Commun accepted the offer of the independence of the "Republic of the Congo" on 30 June 1960.[14] In April and May, Lihau participated in the conference that addressed the Congo's planned economic transition.[1]

Lihau (centre left) with President Kasa-Vubu and the College of Commissioners

Shortly after independence, a widespread mutiny in the army and the secession of several provinces resulted in a domestic crisis.[8] In August Lihau met with a UN official in New York who encouraged him to disseminate support of a reconciliation between the central government and the authorities of the rebellious "State of Katanga".[15] President Joseph Kasa-Vubu dismissed Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba in September 1960 but the latter refused to leave his post, creating a political impasse. In response, Colonel Joseph-Desiré Mobutu launched a coup and displaced the parliamentary system.[8] On 20 September he announced the formation of the "College of Commissioners-General", a government made up of university students and graduates.[16] Lihau was appointed Commissioner-General of Justice.[8][lower-alpha 6] The college was dissolved on 9 February and replaced by a new government under Prime Minister Joseph Iléo. Lihau was made Secretary of State for Justice.[20][21][lower-alpha 7] During this time he frequently worked with Belgian advisers.[23]

Lihau traveled to Katanga in November 1960 to negotiate with the rebellious province's leaders.[1] He assisted in organising and subsequently took part in the Léopoldville Conference in January 1961 to discuss political compromise and reform.[24] He also participated in the Tananarive Conference in March and the following Coquilhatville Conference in April on behalf of Iléo to try and bring about a reconciliation among the dissident factions in the Congo. As result of the latter conference, Iléo created a commission to prepare a new constitution for the Congo and appointed Lihau to chair it.[1] Lihau played a key role in the drafting process from that point forward.[11] In June he joined Cyrille Adoula and Jean Bolikango in negotiating with the representatives of the Stanleyville government. Their meetings continued into July and resulted in the reconvening of Parliament and the Stanleyville government agreeing to disband.[25] On 2 August the Iléo Government was replaced by a new government under Adoula.[26] In January 1963 Lihau was hired to be professor and dean of the faculty of law at Lovanium University (later the National University of Zaire).[8] He encouraged his students to adopt a constitutionalist approach to law.[27]

On 27 November 1963 President Kasa-Vubu announced the formation of a new "Constitutional Commission".[28] The commission convened on 10 January 1964 in Luluabourg, with Lihau serving as its secretary. A draft was completed by 11 April, but its presentation to the public was delayed as Kasa-Vubu's government and the commission debated over which faction held the prerogative to make revisions. Kasa-Vubu eventually yielded and the constitution was submitted for ratification to the Congolese electorate at the end of June. The "Luluabourg Constitution", as it was known, was adopted with 80 percent approval.[29] On 26 July Lihau was made a member of the Congolese section of the International Commission of Jurists.[30] In 1965 another period of government paralysis led Mobutu to seize total control of the country. He requested that Lihau draft a new constitution, which was adopted on 24 June 1967.[31]

On 14 August 1968 Lihau was named First President of the new Supreme Court of Justice of the Congo.[32] He was officially installed in the position on 23 November.[33] In his inaugural speech, Lihau requested "the scrupulous respect of all the authorities of the Republic the status of the magistracy guaranteeing independence in the exercise of its functions."[34] Two years later he became editor of the new law journal La Revue Congolaise de Droit and also served as general delegate to the Office Nationale de la Recherche et du Developpement[lower-alpha 8] for its judicial, political, and social research division.[35] Marcel Lihau soon adopted the name Ebua Libana la Molengo Lihau, as per the encouraged Africanisation in accordance with Mobutu's policy of Authenticité.[36] As a judge, he believed that the term "law" applied "not only to legislative acts, but also to regulatory acts which are at least not illegal, as well as international treaties and ratified agreements".[37] In 1971 Lihau was inducted into the executive committee of the state-sanctioned party, Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution[lower-alpha 9] (MPR). Three years later he was made a commissioner of its political bureau.[31] That year a new constitution was promulgated that concentrated the government's authority in Mobutu as president. Lihau supported the independence of the judiciary and, despite Mobutu's centralisation, interpreted the document as only veiling such autonomy, not eliminating it. He explained that the constitution's references to the "Judicial Council" (a section of the MPR) in place of the previous term "Judicial Power" were, though obfuscating, done only for political reasons and signified no real change.[38] He surmised, "[T]he attributions of courts and tribunals have remained the same as in the past, even if the spirit in which they declare the law will necessarily be different." However, this interpretation ran contrary to Mobutu's ideals.[39] In June 1975 Lihau refused to enforce a harsh sentence levied against student protesters.[27] He was subsequently dismissed from the Supreme Court,[lower-alpha 10] removed from his teaching position, and placed under house arrest.[31]

In 1980, 13 members of Parliament published a letter criticising Mobutu's regime and were arrested for "aggravated treason". Lihau testified on their behalf during the ensuing trial.[40] Two years later he joined them in founding the Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès Social[lower-alpha 11] (UDPS) as an opposition party to Mobutu; Lihau soon became the new party's president.[8] Mobutu was particularly disturbed by Lihau's membership in the party since, as a native of Équateur Province, he added to the geographic diversity of the organisation and therefore its political clout.[41] In retaliation, Mobutu incarcerated him, suspended his rights, confiscated his personal property, and eventually banished him to the village of Yamake in Équateur Province.[8][31] In August 1983 Lihau joined several of his colleagues in attempting to interrupt a meeting between government officials and United States Congressmen at the Hotel InterContinental in Kinshasa while wearing Western suits and ties (then banned by Mobutu). A violent struggle between the UDPS members and Mobutu's security police ensued in full view of the American delegation and received a great amount of media attention in the United States.[41]

By 1985 Lihau's health had deteriorated and he was attempting to seek political asylum abroad. His application to Belgian authorities was refused.[41] Harvard University invited him to become a visiting scholar at its campus in the United States. David Heaps, chairman of the board of Human Rights Internet, convinced Mobutu to let Lihau leave the country.[42] He was subsequently granted political asylum in the United States, and moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts,[43] to become a professor of constitutional law at Harvard.[8] Meanwhile, in the Congo Mobutu persecuted the UDPS leadership, making it nearly impossible for Party President Étienne Tshisekedi to participate in political activities. In early 1988 a dozen party executives traveled to Boston and convinced Lihau to assume the presidency of the UDPS.[44][45] The following year Lihau founded a political conference with the goal of democratising the Congo.[43]

First meeting of the Union Sacrée de l'Opposition Radicale in Kinshasa in 1991. Lihau is seated in the first chair in the front row.

In April 1990 Mobutu announced he would accommodate multi-party politics. Lihau, who was at the time presiding over a meeting of exiled politicians in Brussels, demanded that before opposition elements returned to the country Mobutu's government guarantee the tolerance of a genuine multi-party system, agree to organise a round table conference for political reconciliation, and begin disbanding state security forces.[46] On 22 May he visited the United States Department of State in Washington D.C..[47] Lihau returned to the Congo[41] and became one of four directors of the UDPS under a reformed leadership model.[45] The UDPS then entered a coalition with other opposition groups to form the Union Sacrée de l'Opposition, and he served on the union's ruling council.[48] He joined the UDPS in endorsing the formation of a "Conference Nationale Souveraine"[lower-alpha 12] to discuss political reform in the country. One soon convened, but Lihau protested the large number of delegates summoned by Mobutu to participate, accusing him of trying to stack the representation in his own favor.[49] Throughout the conference's existence Lihau chaired its constitutional commission.[50] At one point during the conference, he denounced the perceived Baluba dominance of the UDPS and joined the Alliance des Bangala (ALIBA), a party with financial support from Mobutu that promoted politicians from Équateur.[51] Eventually the constitutional commission produced a draft recommendation of a federal system that was intended to maintain the national integrity of the Congo while respecting its diversity.[50] The conference disbanded in December 1992 having greatly reinvigorated democratic thought in the country but ultimately failing to enact significant institutional change.[52] Lihau went back to the United States to receive medical treatment.[1]

In June 1993 Lihau delivered a speech on television and radio, denouncing the Kasaian ethnic dominance of the UDPS and Tshisekedi's leadership. The UDPS then labeled him a "traitor" for his association with ALIBA and announced that it interpreted his statements as a resignation from the party. Kasaians close to Tshisekedi were incensed by Lihau's comments and considered assassinating him and fixing blame on Mobutu and Prime Minister Faustin Birindwa.[53]