DRC takes Rwanda to International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, The Netherlands, began hearings on Thursday in a case the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) government brought against Rwanda. The DRC has accused Rwanda of committing "genocide against more than 3.5 million people" on Congolese territory, and has demanded the "immediate, unconditional withdrawal" of Rwandan troops.

The application submitted to the court stated that Rwanda had been guilty of "armed aggression" in the DRC since August 1998, and that it had resulted in "large-scale human slaughter" in the east of the country, including the victims of the recent "massacres" in Kisangani.

The DRC has accused Rwandan troops and their Congolese rebel allies, the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD), of rape and sexual assault, assassinating and kidnapping political figures and human rights activists, systematic looting of public and private institutions, seizure of property belonging to civilians, and arrests and arbitrary detentions.

"The Rwandan Patriotic Army killed thousands of civilians and they were constantly in violation of UN resolutions," AP quoted the DRC's ambassador to The Netherlands, Jacques Masangu-a-Mwanza, as telling the ICJ. "Rwanda was always above UN resolutions and above the law," he said.

The Rwandan Special Envoy for the DRC, Patrick Mazimhaka, has denied the charges. He told IRIN that Rwanda had no case to answer. He said people had died in the region due to neglect, poverty, disease and a lack of infrastructure, medical supplies, food and access for aid agencies. "Rwanda cannot be held responsible," he said.

The two-day hearings dealt with a request for "provisional measures" to be applied pending the court's decision on the case, which may take up to several years. The purpose of the provisional measures would be "to prevent irreparable harm being caused to its [DRC's] lawful rights and to those of its population by reason of the occupation of part of its territory by Rwandan forces", the DRC government said in its application to the court. Failure to issue an immediate order for the measures sought "would have humanitarian consequences incapable of being made good, whether in the short term or in the long term", the DRC added.