By Frank Nyakairu
Nov 11, 2003
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KAMPALA - The world court has suspended hearing a case in which Uganda is accused of committing acts of armed aggression against the DR Congo. The suspension follows last week's meeting between President Yoweri Museveni and his Congolese counterpart Mr Joseph Kabila in Washington, D.C. The two agreed in principle to settle the dispute out of The International Court of Justice at The Hague. On Sunday, a day before the hearing started, the court announced the case had been postponed indefinitely at the request of the two sides. The court said the suspension was to enable diplomatic negotiations to continue in "an atmosphere of calm". "The International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, has postponed the hearings that were to open on 10 November 2003 in the case concerning Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo," a Sunday statement from ICJ read. "The two presidents sat and agreed in Washington to solve every dispute diplomatically without necessarily continuing with the court," Mr Julius Onen, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told The Monitor by phone yesterday. Onen said diplomatic negotiations started about two weeks ago with the visit of the Congolese Regional Corporation Minister Mr Mbusa Nyamwisi. Museveni, who has been in the United States on a one-week working visit, flew to Ireland on Sunday. "This development in the case is no doubt consistent with the steadily improving diplomatic relations between the two countries, and their commitment to the promotion of good neighbourly relations and co-operation" Attorney General Francis Ayume said yesterday. Ayume flew to The Hague last week to defend Uganda. The DR Congo government, then led by the late Laurent Kabila, lodged the complaint in 1999 after Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda invaded the eastern part of the country in 1998 in support of anti-Kinshasa rebels. The DR Congo complained of invasion and military occupation of its territory, destruction of public and private property, violation of human rights and looting of its natural resources. It alleged that Ugandan forces massacred civil populations in Kisangani. Uganda had counter-sued, claiming Shs 12 billion (5.2 million euros) in damages for looting its embassy in Kinshasa in 1998. "We also accused them of aiding rebel activities against us and looting our embassy in DRC," Onen said. But the two countries last year signed a bilateral peace agreement and have since sought to patch up their differences. |
� 2003 The Monitor Publications
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