REGIONAL-EAST AFRICAN, 6TH JANUARY 2003-NAIROBI-KENYA
Kampala Lobbies Congo to Stop Hague Suit
THE EASTAFRICAN
UGANDA HAS launched a diplomatic campaign to persuade President Joseph Kabila's Congo government to drop a case it filed against President Museveni's government at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague.
In its June 23, 1999 plaint to the ICJ, the Congolese government said the invasion of its territory by Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda constituted a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity and a threat to peace and security in Central Africa and the Great Lakes region.
Congo accused the three countries' troops of human rights violations against its people and of plundering of its resources � all in contravention of the United Nations and Organisation of African Unity charters.
Early December 2002, Col Kahinda Otafiire, Uganda's the Minister for State for Regional Co-operation, travelled to Kinshasa for talks with President Kabila and other government officials.
Sources said the case, which has been going on in the court since 1999, was very much on the agenda. Col Otafiire was expected to ask that the case be withdrawn following the normalisation of relations between the two neighbours as per the Luanda Accord signed in September 2002.
Presidents Museveni and Kabila signed the accord which has seen Kampala withdraw from Congo all but one battalion of soldiers.
In late November 2002, Uganda filed a plead with the ICJ, contesting Congolese objections to a November 29, 2001 ICJ ruling in favour of Uganda.
Lucien Tibaruha, Uganda's acting Solicitor General, said: "We are responding to Congo's reply. They raised some issues contesting the admissibility of Uganda's counter-claims which the court had upheld."
The ICJ had ruled in support of Uganda's counter-claims against Congo, in which Kampala sought to be paid reparations by the Kinshasa regime. It accused the Congolese government of harassing Ugandans, robbing and destroying Ugandan embassy property, and helping Ugandan rebel groups based in the Congo to mount attacks on Uganda.
President Kabila's government in September 2002 filed an appeal against the November 29, 2001 court ruling. It asked the ICJ to dismiss the counter-claims and Uganda's demand for reparations of over $6 million.
Mr Tibaruha, however, said that normalisation of relations between Uganda and Congo was not a legal ground for contesting the case.
"These are two different things � one legal, the other diplomatic. So it is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that is handling the matter of convincing Congo to drop the case."
Following Uganda's November submissions, the ICJ will give Congo another chance to respond before the court makes a ruling.
Uganda's first counter-claim arises from the alleged destruction of its property, including chancery and embassy vehicles, harassment of its citizens and robbery of its cash by Congolese soldiers following the outbreak of the war against the late President Laurent Kabila in August 1998.
In the second counterclaim, which 14 of the court's 15 judges upheld, Kampala accused Congo of supporting aggression against its government by helping the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels operating on its territory to carry out several attacks on Uganda.
Three months later, President Kabila's government filed a case against the Rwanda government urging the court to order Rwanda to leave Congo.
Rwanda and Burundi scoffed at the earlier case, saying they had not ratified the ICJ convention so the court could not try them. But international law experts say Congo has now changed tack and may invoke the Montreal Treaty on Civil Aviation � to which Rwanda is a signatory � to build a sustainable case.
A recent meeting between senior Ugandan and Rwandan justice and foreign affairs officials in Kigali agreed that both countries ask Congo to drop the cases against them.
Comments\Views about this article
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now
