ICJ ruling could take “years”

A ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on DRC’s complaint against Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi could take several years, a registry official at the ICJ in The Hague told IRIN on Friday. Depending on the willingness of the parties, the process “could go quickly or it could take up to 4 or 5 years,” the official said. The DRC on Wednesday filed a case at the ICJ against its three eastern neighbours for “armed aggression “ and it asked the Court to order Ugandan, Rwandan and Burundian troops to leave.

The ICJ official said the next step would be for the Court’s president to meet representatives of the four countries to fix time limits for the filing of case documents. Rwanda, Burundi or Uganda could object to the ICJ taking up the case. However, if the Court finds that it has jurisdiction, then its final ruling would be binding on the four concerned countries, since they are all members of the UN. In that case, the DRC could request the UN Security Council to take measures to ensure that the ICJ’s decision is implemented, the official added.