African Court is the Right Vehicle for DR Congo’s Rights Outcry, Rwanda told

The respondent state had argued that the human rights violations did not take place in its territory and that the court did not have the authority to hear the case, among other objections.

June 27, 2025

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FRIDAY June 27, 2025

The sitting African Court’s judges: From Left: Justice Dennis Dominic Adjei (Ghana), Lady Justice Stella Anukam (Nigeria), Vice President of the court, Lady Justice Chafika Bensaoula (Algeria), Lady Justice Ntyam Ondo Mengue (Cameroon), President of the court, Justice Modibo Sacko (Mali), former president of the court, Lady Justice Imani Daud Aboud (Tanzania), Justice Rafaâ Ben Achour (Tunisia), Lady Justice Tujilane-Rose Chizumila (Malawi), Justice Blaise Tchikaya (Republic of Congo), Justice Dumisa Ntsebeza (South Africa), and Justice Duncan Gaswaga (Uganda). PHOTO I COURTESY.

By The Tranquility News Reporter, Tanzania

The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights has given Rwanda a 90-day ultimatum to respond to allegations in a case Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) filed against its north-western neighbour at the continental court.

The court has also given the DR Congo 45 days thereafter to respond to the would-be submissions of Rwanda for the court to deliberate on and determine its ruling.

The order follows the court convincing itself that it has both material and territorial jurisdictions to hear the human rights violation case.

Rwanda had doubted the court’s power to hear the allegations on human rights abuse, arguing that the human rights violations did not take place in its territory.

The respondent State further argued that the DR Congo had invoked instruments that were not relevant to human rights protection and that Rwanda was not party to some of the texts.

Professor Dapo Akande, one of the lawyers representing Rwanda, argues saying his country was not party to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights by the time Democratic Republic of the Congo filed the case at the court. PHOTO I FILE

In its attempt to prove to the court that the application was inadmissible, Rwanda said the DR Congo had not exhausted local remedies available under the rules of diplomatic protection, or existing international and regional remedies.

Rwanda cited Articles 47 and 48 of the Charter saying a dialogue between the two states had to be held beforehand and that there ought to be an ample time for them to reflect and reach a mutually satisfactory solution.

Rwanda pleaded with the court to decline jurisdiction and to declare the application inadmissible;

The African Court on Thursday June 26, 2025, dismissed most of the Rwanda’s objections saying the court’s territorial power followed that of the states as stipulated in its own jurisprudence, that of the International Court of Justice, and other international human rights instruments.

The court said requiring the DR Congo to exhaust local remedies was neither reasonable nor practical, given the number of alleged victims, emphasising that the remedies to be exhausted were domestic, neither regional nor international ones.

One of the 17 lawyers representing Democratic Republic of the Congo tells a panel of judges of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights the reason the court should hear a case his country filed against Rwanda at the continental court in August last year. PHOTOS | FILE

In its Application Number 007/2023, the DR Congo accuses Rwanda of backing the M23 rebel group in North Kivu, igniting serious human rights violations contrary to several human rights protection instruments.

The DRC pleaded with the court to order Rwanda to withdraw all its troops from its territory and cease all forms of support to M23 in a bid to end the human rights violations.

It also asked the court to order Rwanda to compensate for harms resulting from the human rights violations, other appropriate reparation measures, and to reimburse the DR Congo all costs it incurred in the case filed at the courtΩ