The United Nations’ UN, top court is set to rule on a compensation fight between the Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC, and Uganda. The International Court of Justice, ICJ, is set to deliver its verdict on Wednesday over a claim the DRC which is asking for billions of dollars in reparations for a brutal 1998-2003 war launched against Uganda more than 20 years ago.
The long-running dispute was first brought before the court in 1999. At its height, the conflict drew in nine African countries, with Uganda and Rwanda backing rebel forces against the Congolese government as they jostled for control of the DRC’s mineral-rich eastern region of Ituri.
The Hague-based court ordered the African neighbours to negotiate reparations but, in 2015, the DRC returned to the tribunal, saying the talks were not progressing. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is now claiming more than 11 billion Dollars for the occupation of Ituri.