Uganda has started preparing its defence against Congo's attempts to overturn an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling in November 2001 that President Joseph Kabila's government pay reparations to Uganda arising out of the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

Uganda's preparation of its defence in the International Court at The Hague follows last week's appeal by President Kabila's government against the November 29, 2001, ICJ decision to uphold Uganda's two counter-claims against the DRC.

President Yoweri Museveni's government, which in 1999 was put on defence by Kinshasa before the world court, in turn prayed that the court orders Congo to compensate it $6.3 million, arising out of the alleged destruction of Ugandan property, including the chancery and embassy vehicles, harassment of its citizens and stealing of its cash by Congolese soldiers following outbreak of the Uganda sponsored rebellion against the late President Laurent Kabila in August 1998.

Fourteen of the 15 ICJ judges upheld Kampala's claim that Congo was supporting the Allied Democratic Forces against the Uganda government.

Lucian Tibaruha, the Director for Legal Services in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, said last week that the government had not fully studied Congo's submissions, although it was confident it would win the case. In its June 23, 1999 plaint to the ICJ, the Congo government said the invasion of its territory by Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda constituted a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and was a threat to peace and security in Central Africa and the Great Lakes region.

Last week, the Ugandan government said it was expecting copies of the Congolese submissions from its mission in Brussels. Officials said they did not know what Congo's arguments were, as the documents were only available in French. Congo had a May 29 deadline to contest the court's November ruling. Kampala will be given six months to respond to Congo's submissions.

President Kabila's government has also filed a case against the Rwanda government, urging that the court order Rwanda troops to leave its territory. An earlier case filed in 1999 against President Paul Kagame's regime was withdrawn after it was realised that it was unlikely to succeed. Rwanda and Burundi scoffed at the earlier case, saying they were not bound by the ICJ Convention as they had not ratified it. International legal experts say Congo has now changed tack and will invoke the Montreal Treaty on Civil Aviation – to which Rwanda is a signatory – for a more substantive case.

"One of the allegations Congo has made is that the Rwanda army shot down civilian aircraft in the DRC. So the case can be handled under the Montreal Treaty," an expert told The EastAfrican. Congo has also accused Rwanda of committing atrocities against its citizens and of abusing its territorial integrity.

Uganda has withdrawn most of its troops from the Congo, maintaining only a few troops in towns in the east near its border. Rwanda, however, still maintains a heavy presence in the country and was in May accused of taking part in fighting renegade RDC rebels in the of Kisangani region.

Rwanda supports the rebel group, elements of which have turned against Kigali, accusing it of blocking a peaceful end to the fighting, now in its fourth year. Another rebel group supported by Uganda – Jean Pierre Bemba's Movement for Congolese Liberation (MLC) – has struck a deal with President Kabila under which Bemba is to become the prime minister during a 30-month transition period, with Kabila as president.

Kagame insists the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA) will not quit Congo until the UN effectively deploys troops in Congo and "terrorist" groups like the Interahamwe and former Rwanda Armed Forces are disarmed and neutralised.

Uganda also claimed damages "arising from acts of aggression committed by the DRC against Uganda both directly, in combination with Sudan and through support of anti-Uganda insurgent forces based in the Congo." 

Some of the attacks mentioned in the defence include that on Mpondwe border post on November 13 1996, Kichwamba Technical College on June 8 1998, Kasese district on August 1 1998, Bwindi National Park on March 1 1999 and Fort Portal, Kabarole, on December 9 1999.

Kampala has engaged two prominent international lawyers to help officials from the chambers of the Attorney General with the case. The counsels are the British Professor Ian Bornwnlie, QC, a member of the International Law Commission; and American Paul Reichler.

Representatives of Uganda and Congo met for the first time at the ICJ headquarters at The Hague in October 1999. Uganda said then that because of the complexity of the charges and the legal issues involved, it needed nine to 12 months in which to make its defence.

Uganda and Rwanda supported the uprising by the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) rebel group.