Elebe ma Ekonzo

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Philippe Elebe ma Ekonzo (7 July 1933 or 7 July 1937 – 16 January 2003) was a Congolese diplomat and civil servant. Born in Bumba, Belgian Congo, he studied at Saint Joseph College in Léopoldville and began his career as a journalist in 1952 with Courrier d'Afrique, later founding the magazine Le Congo indépendant in Stanleyville in 1959. At independence, he served as an adviser to Aloïs Kabangi, the Minister of Economic Coordination and Planning. From 1966 to 1972, he was the director of the national press agency AZAP. In December 1972 he was appointed ambassador of Zaire to Belgium. He was recalled in 1974 during tensions over Jules Chomé’s anti-Mobutu book but returned to Brussels six months later. From 1975 to 1977 he again led AZAP, then joined the Political Bureau of the ruling MPR. Between 1980 and 1982 he served as State Commissioner for National Orientation, Culture, and Arts, and in 1983 he became a member of the MPR Central Committee. He died in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 2003. He was the father of several writers: Yolande Elebe Ma Ndembo, Tony Elebe ma Ekonzo, Tiguy Elebe Motingiya, and Nick Elebe Ma Elebe.