Uganda Responds To UN Court Ruling On DR Congo Case

Posted by: Kyeyune Andrew Jonathan in Uganda news February 10, 2022

Kampala has responded to a decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering Uganda to compensate DR Congo. The ICJ said Uganda should pay Congo $325m (about shs 1.1 b) over a conflict that lasted from 1998 until 2003.

The ICJ, which is the UN’s top court based in the Hague delivered its ruling on Wednesday. DR Congo sought $11b in reparations over the devastating two-decade conflict.

Judges at ICJ said Kinshasa had failed to prove that Uganda held direct responsibility for any more than 15,000 of hundreds of thousands of deaths in the conflict.

‘’The court sets out the total amount of compensation awarded to the DRC, which is 325 million US dollars’’ . Joan Donoghue, the chief judge of the UN court said.

The government in Kampala responded to the ICJ judgment saying it has noted the UK court’s decision. The government said as the award is not as outrageous as the claims made, the decision did not meet the standard of fairness expected.

‘’We challenge and reject the findings of wrongdoing on the part of the UPDF which was singled out. This notwithstanding the acknowledgment by the court of the existence of so many belligerents in the conflict. The UPDF was and remains a disciplined force. And a force for good in all the countries it has operated in to this day,’’ the government said.

Apparently, the government revealed that the conflict from which the dispute arose got resolved in a peace accord in Lusaka. This confirmed the existence of the problems faced by the countries neighboring the DRC.

As it turns out, the court’s decision is yet another failure to understand or appreciate African matters according to the government. They said the court makes no contribution to current efforts at resolving, on their own, the security issues that persist.

‘’This, however, shall not deter us from continuing to engage the government of the DRC to resolve this matter,’’ the government said.

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