By Ange Kasongo
KINSHASA, June 26 (Reuters) – The Democratic Republic of Congo has filed a case against Rwanda at the International Court of Justice over its role in the long-running conflict in the east, the government said on Friday.
• In a statement, Congo accused Rwanda of breaching international conventions, including those on genocide, racial discrimination and torture.
• Congo said the alleged crimes committed against civilians included massacres, extrajudicial killings, torture, sexual violence, forced displacement and discrimination spanned over three decades.
• Congo said Rwanda had dispatched forces and backed or directed armed groups to carry out unlawful military operations on its territory following the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
• Congo is calling for the ICJ to order Rwanda to cease the alleged violations and award reparations to Congo and its victims.
• There was no immediate response from the Rwandan government. Rwanda has consistently denied allegations that it backs any rebel groups operating in Congo.
• U.N. experts and Western governments have sided with Congo in finding Rwanda responsible for providing support to M23, a major armed group in the east.
• The decades-long conflict is rooted in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, after remnants of the forces associated with the genocide fled across the border into eastern Congo.
• This is the third time Congo has tried to bring a case against Rwanda at the ICJ, which is the United Nations’ highest court and deals with disputes between states and alleged breaches of international treaties.
• The first case was dropped by the Congolese authorities in 2001, a second case was dismissed by the ICJ in 2006 because the court found it did not have jurisdiction because Rwanda had either not signed, or made reservations, or did not meet all the conditions in the treaties cited in Congo’s case.
(Reporting by Ange Kasongo in Kinshasa; Additional reporting by Stephanie van den Berg in The Hague; Writing by Amindeh Blaise Atabong; Editing by Jessica Donati and Andrew Cawthorne)
