DRC takes Rwanda to ICJ over alleged ‘abuses’

The 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, reports Al Jazeera. The Congolese Government filed the application with the ICJ – the UN’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. The dispute concerns ‘abuses attributable to Rwanda over a period extending from 1996 to the present day’, the ICJ said, 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 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, have conducted unlawful military operations across eastern DRC since the 1994 Rwandan genocide. 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. The conflict has exposed the failure of recent diplomatic efforts, including a US-brokered peace deal signed in June 2025 and a subsequent Qatari-mediated ceasefire declaration, both of which have failed to halt the violence. This is the third time DRC has sought ICJ action against Rwanda. A previous attempt in 2006 was dismissed after the court found it lacked jurisdiction.

Full Al Jazeera report