Dr. Balingene Kahombo is an associate professor of public law and African international relations at the Faculty of Law, University of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He obtained his PhD at the Faculty of Law of the Free University of Berlin, Germany, with a scholarship awarded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and a grant provided by the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA). A graduate of High/Advanced Studies in public law, public international law, and international relations at the University of Kinshasa (DRC), he also holds a Licence en droit from the University of Goma. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Berlin Potsdam Research Group on, “The International Rule of Law – Rise or Decline?” (Humboldt University of Berlin), between 2018 and 2019. Prof. Kahombo also worked as Deputy Prosecutor in Kinshasa/Matete. He assisted the Congolese team of diplomats during the Kinshasa experts and ministerial meetings (April 2021) on the negotiations concerning the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia under the leadership of the African Union (AU). He also worked as a Deputy Prosecutor in Kinshasa. He has taught at the Kinshasa War School (EGK) which belongs to the Congolese Army, and several other Congolese universities, including the University of Kinshasa and the Free University of Great Lakes Countries. He is a member of the African Group of Experts on International Criminal Justice and the Working Group on the Peace Process in DRC, which brings together several Congolese civil society organizations to report on issues of peace, security reforms, and election processes in the country. He also co-founded the Center for Research and Studies on the Rule of Law in Africa (Centre de Recherches et d’Etudes sur l’Etat de Droit en Afrique –CREEDA) where he serves as a member of the editorial committee of the Congolese Yearbook of Constitutional Justice. Prof. Kahombo led the APN 2020 - 2022 Collaborative Working Group (CWG); and is a consultant in security and defense sector, justice and democratic governance. E-mail: balingene82@gmail.com; balingenekahombo@unigom.ac.cd; balingenek@creeda-rdc.org.