Laurent-Gabriel Eketebi, later Eketebi Moyidiba Mondjolomba, was a Congolese politician who served as President of Equateur Province from June 1960 until September 1962 and as President of Moyen-Congo Province from then until June 1964.
20 Facts About Laurent Eketebi
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Laurent Eketebi later served as State Commissioner of Transport and Communications from July 1972 until January 1975, when he was dismissed and charged with various financial crimes.
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Laurent Eketebi was born on 13 May 1936 in Coquilhatville, Belgian Congo to a Ngombe father and a Mongo mother.
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Laurent Eketebi attended the administrative and commercial section of the Groupe Scolaire Officiel Congreganiste, run by the Freres des Ecoles Chretiennes in Coquilhatville, where he received six years of primary education and six years of secondary education, graduating in 1954.
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Laurent Eketebi later married Beatrice Lifela Y'Aekesako and had nine children with her.
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Laurent Eketebi was a member of the Association du Personnel Indigene de la Colonie, a labour union, and in 1958 he served as its provincial secretary.
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Laurent Eketebi served as secretary-general of the Coquilhatville section of the Federation du Nord de l'Equateur.
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Laurent Eketebi obtained a prominent position in the Equateur branch of the Mouvement National Congolais, a political party, but later left it to join Jean Bolikango's Parti de l'Unite Nationale.
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In March 1960 Laurent Eketebi was appointed to the Equateur Executive College, a transitional body meant to administer the region until the Congo's independence on 30 June.
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Laurent Eketebi used his multi-ethnic background to broker a compromise that resulted in a coalition between PUNA, the Parti National du Progres, and the Union des Mongo.
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Laurent Eketebi worked intensively to improve relations between the two groups.
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On 14 September 1962 Laurent Eketebi filed his candidacy for president of the new province of Moyen-Congo.
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Laurent Eketebi was unanimously reelected by the assembly in April 1963 and was invested with the public functions portfolio.
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Bolikango and Laurent Eketebi both denied responsibility, but the local population held the latter at fault.
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Laurent Eketebi became increasingly politically isolated and faced disagreement in his own cabinet; his vice-president requested that the central government depose him.
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Laurent Eketebi narrowly escaped a censure vote only due to his popular support in the Bomongo and Lisala territories.
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Laurent Eketebi served as deputy director of the Office of the Head of State from December 1965 until 1969.
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On 2 July 1971 Laurent Eketebi was appointed Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs by President Mobutu.
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Later that month Laurent Eketebi was stripped of the National Order of the Leopard and a criminal investigation was opened against him.
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Laurent Eketebi was convicted on several counts of misappropriation of public funds and his property was seized by the government.