DR Congo files case against Rwanda at ICJ over decades of alleged ‘abuses’

Kinshasa takes Kigali to UN’s top court over 30 years of alleged massacres, sexual violence, and forced displacement.The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is taking Rwanda to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its role in three decades of alleged “abuses” in the country’s east.The Congolese government filed the application with the ICJ – the United Nations’s principal court for disputes between states – on Friday, accusing Kigali of bearing direct responsibility for years of massacres, displacement and atrocities in Eastern DRC, which borders Rwanda.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3DRC facing ‘catastrophic collision’ of Ebola and war, WHO chief warnslist 2 of 3DRC government, M23 rebels commit to protecting civilians, aid deliverieslist 3 of 3Could the latest violence in DR Congo undermine truce efforts?end of listThe dispute concerns “abuses attributable to Rwanda over a period extending from 1996 to the present day”, the ICJ said in a statement, confirming ⁠it had received DRC’s application to start a case.The Congolese application stated that the abuses “have primarily targeted Hutus present on Zairian, and subsequently Congolese, territory following the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994” in Rwanda.However, the filing added that other Congolese ethnic groups, including the Nyindu, Bembe, Lega, Nande, Hunde and Bashi, have also been targeted.“The civilian populations of Eastern DRC have been victims of massacres, extrajudicial executions, acts of torture, sexual violence, forced displacement, and discrimination,” the Congolese government said in its statement, describing suffering of “exceptional magnitude”.The filing alleges that Rwandan armed forces, alongside proxy groups including the M23/AFC alliance, and Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (AFDL), have conducted unlawful military operations across Eastern DRC since the 1994 Rwandan genocide. These operations have targeted refugee camps, villages, and urban centres, continuing through the First and Second Congo Wars and into the present day, it added.M23, the most prominent of the named groups, captured the strategic Congolese cities of Goma and Bukavu in early 2025, displacing hundreds of thousands and reversing decades of fragile peace building.