Kinshasa vs Kampala hearings postponed at ICJ

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the UN, has postponed hearings that were scheduled to open on Monday in the case concerning "Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Uganda)", the court announced on Friday from The Hague, Netherlands. In a letter dated 5 November, the DRC requested that the case be adjourned until April 2004 "in order to enable the diplomatic negotiations engaged by the parties to be conducted in an atmosphere of calm". In a letter the following day, ICJ reported, Uganda said it supported the DRC's proposal. The ICJ said it had informed both countries that although the opening of the oral proceedings would be postponed, it was impossible for the court to fix a date in April 2004 for the adjourned hearings. "As the Court's judicial calendar for the period from now until well into 2004 had been adopted some time ago, providing for the hearing of, and deliberation on, a number of other cases, the new date for the opening of the oral proceedings in the present case would be fixed in due course," the ICJ stated. "It is regrettable that the present unexpected situation will make it necessary for the Court to re-examine its schedule of work in order to make the most efficient and economical use of its judicial time," it added. [For background on the proceedings, go to www.icj-cij.org]