By Ivan Mwine
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in Hague, has set the date for passing judgment in the case in which the Democratic Republic of Congo accuses the Ugandan army plundering its natural resources.
The ICJ has set February 9th, 2022, as the date on which the judgment will be delivered in the case that spurns over several decades.
This revelation is contained in press release reference as No.2022/2, issued by the ICC on January 25th, 2022, titled;
‘Armed Activities On The Territory of the Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo V Uganda), states in part thus;
The Court is to deliver its judgment on the question of reparations on 9 February 2022 at 3 p.m
The HAGUE, 25 January 2022, on 9 February 2022, the International Criminal Court of Justice, the Principal Judicial organ of the United Nations, will deliver its judgment on the question of reparations in the case concerning Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo V. Uganda).
A public sitting of the Court will take place at 3.P.m at the Peace Palace in The Hague, during which the President of the ICJ, Judge Joan E. Donogue, will read out the Court’s decision.
In view of the current COVID-19 pandemic, only Members of the Court and representatives of the Parties will be present in the Great Hall of Justice. Members of the diplomatic Corps, the media and the public will be able to follow the reading through a live webcast on the Court’s website as well as on UN Web TV.”
The case was first brought before the court in 1999 and in 2005 the ICJ ruled that Uganda had violated international law by occupying parts of Ituri with its own troops and supporting other armed groups in the area during the conflict.
It also ruled that the DR Congo had violated international law with an attack on the Ugandan embassy in Kinshasa.
Lawyers for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) told the ICC that they are seeking $4.3Bn in reparations payments from Uganda for its role in the conflicts in the country’s mineral-rich Ituri province over damages caused from 1998-2003.
DR Congo’s representative before the court told the judges that the damage done to DR Congo by Uganda during the over five-year conflict in Ituri was of “incommensurate magnitude” and said Uganda had not negotiated in good faith during reparations talks.
Meanwhile, the development comes at time when the Ugandan army has since returned to DR Congo for an operation dubbed Shujaa, which is aimed at flushing Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels out of the Congo forests after they carried out terrorist attacks on Uganda last year.
