Court Rules In Uganda Favour In DRC Case

By Alfred Wasike THE International Court of Justice (ICJ) has made a preliminary order in favour of Uganda in a controversial case in which the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) sued Uganda for violating its territory and sought compensation. The suit is called Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo vs Uganda). The Hague-based (Netherlands) court has upheld two of Uganda’s counter-claims as admissible and the third inadmissible. The ICJ, on November 29, 2001, ordered the DRC to file a reply and Uganda a rejoinder, addressing the claims of both parties. It fixed 29 May 2002 as the time limit for the filing of the reply and 29 November 2002 as that for the filing of the rejoinder. The ICJ ordered that two of the counter-claims submitted by Uganda against the DRC are “admissible as such and [formed] part of the current proceedings”, but that the third is not. In its June 1999 application lodging the case, and in its memorial of July 2000, the DRC requested the ICJ to declare that Uganda had, by way of military and paramilitary actions against the DRC, illegally exploited Congolese resources and done acts of oppression against Congolese nationals and violated rules of the conventions and customary international law. In a counter-memorial filed in April 2001, Uganda submitted three counter-claims concerning the alleged acts of aggression against it by the DRC, the attacks on Ugandan diplomatic premises and personnel in Kinshasa and on Ugandans, and the DRC alleged violation of the Lusaka Agreement. Ends