Uganda has delivered $65 million (£55 million) as the first installment of a fine it was forced to pay the Democratic Republic of Congo for invading the East of the nation twenty years ago, DRC’s Justice Minister Rose Mutombo announced on Monday.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) required Uganda to pay a total of $325 million in reparations in February.
The installment is allocated as follows:
$225 million for human injuries
$40 million for property damage
$60 million for the stolen assets
Uganda is obliged to complete the reparations in 5 annual payments of $65 million, between 2022 and 2026. The first installment was due this September.
The payment is hoped to improve ties between the two neighboring nations. Additionally, it is a rare display of international law bodies aiding justice over military invasions and war crimes.
In 2005, the ICJ declared that Uganda’s invasion of eastern DR Congo resulted in the killing and torture of civilians while destroying villages. Uganda supported rebels working to remove the late President Laurent Kabila alongside Rwanda.
More than two million people are estimated to have died in the fight, whether from soldiers and rebels, sickness, or hunger, which involved three additional African nations.
