Présentation du Traité de droit international public du professeur Auguste Mampuya : Regards croisés sur le régionalisme africain

This paper critically presents the book Traité de droit international public (Treatise of Public International Law) which was published by Professor Auguste Mampuya in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2016. Given its important size, we have subjectively chosen to focus on developments about African regionalism in order to assess the author’s contribution to the progress of Congolese doctrine in this domain. The book examines the issue under the title ‘Africa and International Law’. However, the analysis is very laconic. African regionalism as such is not even defined. Instead, the author has directly searched to answer the question as to whether African international and community law do exist or not. Accordingly, details on African regionalism were not provided as one could have expected. The weakness of the doctrinal construction begins with observations on the general content of the book. But, it is more perceptible in respect of the author’s two main positions on African regionalism, namely his late recognition of the existence of African international law and his unfounded denial of African community law. This critical presentation identifies the limits of these positions and explains their scope. The final goal is to shed more light on some aspects of such a controversial legal topic.