Bernard Georges appointed judge to Comesa Court of Justice |31 March 2015

Well-known legal practitioner Bernard Georges is the first Seychellois to be appointed Judge to the Court of Justice of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) by the heads of state and government of the authority during their 18th summit meeting being held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Mr Georges was elected as one of the twelve judges to the Court of Justice during the meeting of the ministers of justice of the organisation on March 4 in Khartoum, Sudan. His term of office is for a period of five years and will begin in July 2015.

The Court of Justice is an institution created to uphold the rule of law in the interpretation and application of the Comesa Treaty. In particular, the Treaty provides for a dispute settlement mechanism in the framework of international trade. Over the years, litigants from both the public and private sectors of the Comesa region have taken their disputes to the Court of Justice for resolution and settlement.

The Court will henceforth be permanently based in Khartoum, Sudan. The building housing the Court was inaugurated on March 5, 2015. The Court will meet on an ad-hoc basis, as and when there will be cases to be heard.

Seychelles was also honoured yesterday at the Summit with the appointment of George Tirant, chief executive of the Fair Trading Commission, as board member of the Comesa Commission for Competition.

The re-election of the Founding President of Seychelles, James Mancham, to the Committee of Elders for a four-year period during the meeting of Foreign Affairs on March 28, was also endorsed by the Summit yesterday (see separate story on page 3).

The Seychelles delegation to the Summit is being headed by Vice-President Danny Faure.