The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has given Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo up to September 28 to file written pleadings on their agreement of the reparations in the case concerning armed activities on DR Congo territory by the former in 1998.
The deadline for filing papers on the ongoing reparation disagreement was yesterday April 28.
However, court by an order dated April 11 “extended to September 28, 2016 the time-limit for the filing” by DRC, of a memorial on the reparations which it considers to be owed to it by Uganda, and for the filing, by Uganda, of a memorial on the reparations which it considers to be owed by DRC.
The DRC sued Uganda at the Hague-based court in 1999 over acts of armed aggression that violated the UN Charter and the Charter of the Organisation of African Unity, the predecessor of the African Union.
Uganda, however, lost the case in 2005, when its legal team erred by submitting to the court as its evidence, a report of a commission of inquiry chaired by Justice David Porter, which had implicated senior government officials.
The court told the two governments to go out and negotiate on the amount of reparation, a process which has since dragged.
In the latest statement the court noted that: “The subsequent procedure has been reserved for further decision. The decision to extend the time-limit was made taking account of the views of the parties.”
“In its order, the court indicates that, by a letter dated March 31, 2016 and received in the registry on the same day, the Congolese minister of Justice and Human Rights and Keeper of the Seals asked the court, for the reasons given in that letter, for an additional time-limit of 10 months for the filing of his government’s memorial.”
musisif@ug.nationmedia.com
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