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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
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UN high court orders millions in damages for Congo, well short of billions requested

In 2005, the International Court of Justice found Uganda had breached international law by providing financial and logistical support to armed groups operating in the DRC, but the two Central African countries couldn’t agree on the amount of the damages.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (CN) — The United Nations’ highest judicial body ordered Uganda on Wednesday to pay the Democratic Republic of Congo $325 million in war damages, ending a 17-year legal battle.

The International Court of Justice found that Kampala was responsible for violence and economic destruction incurred during conflicts on border regions in the late 1990s, but the award was much less than the $11.2 billion Kinshasa asked for.

Judge Joan E. Donoghue, the court’s president, read the verdict aloud to a partially empty courtroom, stressing that the award should “as far as possible wipe out the consequences of the illegal act.” The court continues to operate in a hybrid fashion, with some parties present in the courtroom and others participating virtually due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2005, The Hague-based court found Uganda was responsible for human rights violations by armed groups between 1998 and 2003, including the murder of civilians and the theft of natural resources. In the intervening years, the two countries have been unable to reach an agreement about the total Uganda should pay. In hearings over the award last year, Kampala acknowledged its military had caused harm, but denied it was as extensive as Congo claimed. 

According to arguments Kinshasa made in court, the conflict killed, injured and displaced more than one million civilians, with around 200,000 deaths attributed to Ugandan forces. Congo also wanted to be reimbursed for the theft of natural resources. The conflict area is rich with natural resources, including gold, diamonds, tantalum, tin and tungsten. 

The court, however, concluded the figures were lower, finding Uganda responsible for between 10,000 and 15,000 deaths. The judgment didn’t dispute the total loss of life, but rather found that Uganda could only be linked to a smaller share of it. It awarded $225 million for the violence committed against civilians. 

Congo had asked for $1.3 billion for the destruction of property and loss of resources, but the court awarded a much lower $100 million, again pointing to the lack of evidence that the damage was incurred at the hands of Ugandan forces. 

The nearly 25-year dispute dates to the overthrow of then-DRC president Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997. With help from Uganda and Rwanda, Laurent-Désiré Kabila took control of Congo in 1997, toppling the former president in a coup. During the 1994 Rwanda genocide, displaced ethnic Hutus in refugee camps along the Rwanda-Congo border organized into militias and Kabila initially welcomed continued Ugandan assistance in dealing with these armed groups. 

Ugandan forces, however, were accused of killing civilians, committing sexual assault and destroying property, and Kabila ordered them to leave. Uganda refused, claiming the continued presence of its armed forces was needed to combat militants operating along the border. In 1999, Congo filed a complaint with the U.N. high court, arguing Uganda’s actions amounted to an invasion. Ugandan forces finally left in 2003 and the two countries normalized diplomatic relations only two years ago.

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Categories / Appeals, International, Politics

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