· For almost two decades, DRC has been fighting a legal battle with Uganda for reparations for the 1998-2003 war.
· The United Nations’ top court, International Court of Justice (ICJ) has issued its final decision on the amount to be paid to DRC for the damages caused by the brutal war.
For almost two decades, DRC has been fighting a legal battle with Uganda for reparations for the 1998-2003 war. The United Nations’ top court, International Court of Justice (ICJ) has issued its final decision on the amount to be paid to DRC for the damages caused by the brutal war. Though the judgement was issued earlier directing Uganda to pay reparations to Democratic Republic of Congo, the exact amount was not specified. ICJ has now ordered Uganda to pay over $325 million (€284 million) in reparations to the Congo (DRC) which is a fragment of DRC’s demand. ICJ has allowed Uganda to pay the amount in installments of $65 million annually.
Congo presented the case before the Hague-based court in 1999. ICJ passed the ruling in 2005 that Uganda has to pay compensation for invading DRC that left hundreds of thousands of people dead and millions displaced and advised both the countries to negotiate the amount of compensation. But both the countries could not come to an agreement on the amount. DRC went back to ICJ in 2015 seeking their intervention for a final decision. The DRC had demanded more than $11 billion in reparations to which Uganda rejected saying such a huge amount could ruin its economy. The decisions by ICJ to settle disputes between countries are final and cannot be appealed.
