Case filed against “aggressor” states

The DRC has filed a complaint at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague for what it called the “invasion of Congolese territory by Burundian, Ugandan and Rwandan troops on 2 August 1998,” an ICJ statement said on Wednesday. The DRC accused the three countries of having attempted to seize Kinshasa and assassinate Kabila, “with the object of installing a Tutsi regime or a regime under Tutsi control,” the statement said. It also accused the three of violations of “international humanitarian law and massive violations of human rights,” including massacres and rapes. The DRC has asked the Court to rule that the armed forces of Burundi, Uganda and Rwanda must “vacate the territory” of the Congo and that the DRC was entitled to compensation for “looting, destruction, removal of property” and other acts attributable to the three countries, the statement said. “Tentative” withdrawal plan reported Officials from countries involved in the conflict reached a “tentative agreement” on troop withdrawal during SADC-organised ceasefire negotiations in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, on Thursday, AFP reported, citing sources close to the talks. “The withdrawal should start sometime in July and end within three months,” one source told AFP, which added that there were still differences among the parties. Meanwhile, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said in Harare at the end of two days of talks with DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila that the two leaders remained suspicious of Ugandan and Rwandan plans, news agencies said. “To us the most important thing is that we strengthen our defence forces...and prevent more ground being taken and occupied by the invading forces,” he was quoted as saying. Rwandan President Pasteur Bizimungu said on Wednesday that his country would agree to a cessation of hostilities if the DRC made a commitment to deal with Rwanda’s security concerns, notably the presence of Hutu militia in eastern Congo, news agencies reported. Amnesty sees “continuing pattern” of repression The recent arrests of former minister Etienne Mbaya and four leading members of the Union pour la democratie et le progres sociale (UDPS) were part of a “continuing pattern of intimidation and repression of opposition political activities” in the DRC, Amnesty International said on Wednesday. In a statement received by IRIN, Amnesty said it believed the five people, who remain under detention without charge in Kinshasa, were arrested solely on account of their political activities. Meanwhile, no political party was yet known to have applied for official recognition under Kabila’s February political liberation law because the conditions for recognition were so prohibitive, Amnesty added. Two soldiers killed by firing squad Two soldiers were executed by firing squad in Kinshasa on Wednesday, news agencies reported. The soldiers, members of the special presidential security unit, had been convicted by a military tribunal of killing a fellow soldier in a brawl, Reuters quoted state television as saying.