KINSHASA, DR Congo
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has asked Uganda to pay $322 million for damages caused by its troops during the Congo invasion between 1997 and 2003.
This reparation is part of the $4.3 billion
compensation that Congo is demanding from Uganda - nearly half of the $10
billion it demanded in 2005. The additional amount Congo is demanding is for
the looting of its minerals, destroying the environment, adverse impact on the
economy and legal costs. When added the figure totals to about $4.3 billion
(about Shs 14 trillion).
The figure is a drop from the $10 billion
that DRC had demanded from Uganda in 2005 when it won the case it had filed in
the International Court of Justice (ICJ). "By the conduct of its armed
forces, which committed acts of killing, torture and other forms of inhumane
treatment of the Congolese civilian population ... [Uganda] violated its
obligations under international human rights law," the court ruled in
2005.
The Hague-based ICJ reopened the case this
week with submissions from DRC after the two countries failed to agree on an
amount for more than a decade. When Uganda lost the case in 2005, DRC’s
lawyers argued for a reparation figure of $10 billion which was awarded.
However, the court asked the two countries to get together and come up with a
figure that is agreeable to both because Uganda protested the claims.
The talks have lasted more than a decade and
failed to yield positive results figure - prompting Congo to ask the
International Court of Justice to reopen the case. Uganda’s argument has
been that Congo did not give evidence of how it arrived at the figure they were
demanding for compensation.
Throughout the negotiations, neither Congo
nor Uganda disclosed the amount that DRC was demanding or the amount Uganda was
willing to pay.
On Tuesday this week, speaking through an
English translator, Jean-Paul Segeobe, one of the many lawyers who made
submissions on behalf of Congo said that the country is demanding $322 million
from Uganda for the damages. He argued that DRC has met the threshold required
for wartime reparation.
"It is a great honour for me to address
your court on behalf of the DRC, to submit to you the claims for reparations by
way of compensation for the many damages, injuries that this country and its
people have suffered to their property as a result of the unlawful under
activities of Uganda. For all the damage to property caused by Uganda in Ituri
and the other parts of the country; Kisangani, Beni, Butembo and Gemena, the
DRC is claiming only $322, 675,043.28. Despite what the respondents state
claims, the damages caused to property during the 1998-2003 war is a
consequence of these activities. The DRC has met the standard of proof required
for wartime reparations," said Segeobe.
Uganda's lawyers led by Attorney General
William Byaruhanga who is attending court sessions physically will make
submissions today Wednesday. Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi soldiers helped
DRC’s late Laurent Kabila ascend to power in 1997, overthrowing dictator Mobutu
Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga.
As Kabila settled in office, he disagreed
with the foreign forces that helped him capture power. Consequentially, he
asked them to leave. When Uganda and Rwanda declined to withdraw, Kabila
sued Uganda at the ICJ for alleged invasion.
But Uganda argued that its military's
presence and activities in DRC were, for the most part, based on an invitation
and were authorised by the Congolese administration.
Last year, Uganda President Yoweri Museveni
offered to contribute Shs 200bn towards the construction of 223 kilometres of
roads in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as 'a way of boosting regional
trade.'
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