DR Congo Drags Rwanda To World Court

By John KakandeTHE DR Congo has dragged Rwanda to the International Court of Justice, alleging it is perpetrating “large-scale human slaughter and systematic looting of public and private institutions” in the eastern DRC.The court has set June 13 as the date for hearing an application by Congo to make provisional orders, stopping Rwanda from inflicting further “irreparable harm” to the Congolese population, according to a statement issued by the court in the Hague yesterday.Congo filed the application on May 28, accusing Rwanda of “massive, serious and flagrant violations of human rights and of international humanitarian law.” Over a year ago, Congo filed a similar case against Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. But later withdrew the cases against Rwanda and Burundi. The case against Uganda is still pending before the court. Congo, in its application states that Rwanda has been guilty of “armed aggression” from August 1998 to the present day. Congo alleges the aggression has resulted in “large-scale human slaughter, rape and sexual assault of women, assassinations and kidnapping of political figures and human rights activists, arrests, arbitrary detentions, inhuman and degrading treatment.”Ends