Court to hold public hearings on the question of Uganda’s US$10b reparations to DRC

By George Mangula

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will on March 18-22, 2019 hold public hearings on the question of US$10 billion reparations Uganda is supposed to pay the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). There will two rounds of oral arguments whereby Uganda will be responding  to DRC claims.

Members of the diplomatic corps are expected to attend the hearings of which verbatim records of the pleadings will be published on the Court’s website. “Upon the conclusion of the hearings, a press release will be issued presenting the submissions of the Parties,” the court says.

Uganda’s army the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) is accused of plundering DRC’s minerals in the case concerning Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Uganda) from March 18- 22, 2019, at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the seat of the Court.

The international court in 2005 ordered Uganda to pay reparations to DRC for the five-year occupation of its eastern regions.

The court ruled that Uganda’s 1998-2003 intervention violated international sovereignty and led to the killing and torture of civilians and the destruction of villages. Uganda’s claim that it acted in self-defence was dismissed.

The court upheld Congo’s claim that it had been the victim of unlawful military intervention, though it did not find a deliberate policy of terror. Kinshasa welcomed the ruling and said it would seek US$6-US$10 billion n  in compensation, an estimate the court said would be appropriate.

More than 3 million died in fighting which spawned myriad Congolese militias and rebel groups and sucked in armies from Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia. Foreign forces withdrew after accords paved the way for Congo’s current fragile peace.