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 the prevention of genocide, racial discrimination and torture.
• 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 said the alleged crimes committed against civilians included massacres, extrajudicial killings, torture, sexual violence, forced displacement and discrimination, spanning more than three decades.
• There was no immediate response from the Rwandan government, which has regularly denied allegations that it backs any rebel groups operating in Congo.
• Congo is calling for the ICJ to order Rwanda to cease the alleged violations and award reparations to Congo and its victims.
• The ICJ, also known as the World Court, confirmed it had received Congo’s application to start a case.
• 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 was dismissed by the ICJ in 2006 because the court found it did not have jurisdiction to make a ruling on the case at that time.
(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, Andrew Cawthorne and Andrew Heavens)
