Arusha (Tanzania) : DRC takes Rwanda to the EAC Court of Justice

On Thursday, the East African Community Court of Justice began hearing parties concerned by complaints filed by the DRC against Rwanda. Kinshasa accuses Kigali of supporting a rebel movement (M23) against a State (DRC) sharing the same Community.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

This Thursday’s hearing before the first instance seat of the EAC Court of Justice focused on the applications arising from a case filed by the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) against the government of Rwanda over “alleged conflicts” in North Kivu, eastern Congo.

The DRC accuses Rwanda of “acts of aggression that violate its sovereignty, territorial integrity, political stability and independence”. The DRC argues that Rwanda’s actions have led to “significant human rights violations” in the North Kivu region.

Lawyers appearing on behalf of Congo told the Court that “Rwanda has violated the EAC treaties which stipulate that no member state shall under any circumstances attack, harbour or support rebels who act against another fellow state.”

They said Rwanda violated these articles “by sending troops, munitions and supporting the M23 rebel movement.”

“These actions constitute an act of crime of aggression,” they concluded.

For Rwanda, it first contested the form : documents accompanying these complaints, filed with the Court, were not translated from French to English, which is the official language of the East African Community.

Then, Rwanda’s lawyers asked the Court to order the “stripping of the case” because it “is unfounded”.

“Rwanda has never crossed its borders, has no troops in the DRC, and the M23 movement is made up of Congolese, and therefore Rwanda has nothing to do with this conflict between Congolese brothers”, they argued.

“The DRC will never find irrefutable tangible evidence : what are names of Rwandan troops in the DRC? How many are there? Since when?”, they asked.

On the contrary, they added, “Kigali is in a dynamic search for solutions by participating in regional initiatives in Luanda (Angola), Nairobi (Kenya) and Bujumbura (Burundi), at a time when Kinshasa is reluctant to these initiatives”.

“Let the case be closed, withdrawn and cancelled without any further procedure”, they concluded.

Judges stated that the case will have to continue in the coming days to get to the bottom of it.

Kinshasa sent the Deputy Minister of Justice and Litigation. Samuel Mbemba was accompanied by other lawyers.

Flags of EAC member countries flying in the commercial city of Bujumbura on the sidelines of the 21st extraordinary summit of EAC heads of state, May 31, 2023 (SOS Médias Burundi)

For this delegation, the approach of the EAC, to which the DRC belongs, follows the international judicial front created by Félix Tshisekedi (President of Congo), in addition to the military and diplomatic front, with the creation of a task force called “International Justice” and the appointment of a mission officer to the International Criminal Court (ICC), to which applications were filed a long time ago for the same cause.

Kinshasa has also initiated steps, still in Arusha, Tanzania, but this time at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to request the examination in public hearing of the DRC’s application against Rwanda.

There, it explains, “the matter should be dealt with in a short time, otherwise the DRC would leave this African organization,” threatens the vast country of Central Africa.

For its part, Kigali believes that the DRC has no lessons to give to anyone.

Olivier Nduhungirehe, head of Rwandan diplomacy, declared in New York, on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly that the DRC should start by “rendering justice to the victims of the FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo), and to those of the Hutu genocidaires FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda)” before “giving lessons in justice”.

According to a specialist in sub-regional law, who has also pleaded before this Court more than once, the EAC Court of Justice will have difficulty ruling on this case as was the case in the cases between Rwanda and Uganda and between Rwanda and Burundi, between 2015 and 2020.

“First of all, judges are appointed by presidents of countries that make up the EAC, and work in principle to please their masters. And so, it is only a matter of noise judicial quite simply,” he notes.

The M23 – which Rwanda is accused of permanently supporting – is a former Tutsi rebellion that took up arms again at the end of 2021, accusing Congolese authorities of not having respected their commitments on the reintegration of its fighters.

Since then, its fighters have controlled most of North Kivu province in eastern Congo and had begun to advance towards Ituri province before observing a ceasefire that both sides accuse each other of violating.

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Atmosphere in a room of the EAC Court of Justice during the opening of the DRC-Rwanda trial, September 26, 2024 in Arusha, Tanzania, DR