The Democratic Republic of Congo has filed a case against Rwanda at the International Court of Justice, accusing Kigali of involvement in the decades-long conflict in eastern Congo.
In a statement on Friday, Kinshasa said it was seeking a ruling that would compel Rwanda to cease alleged violations and provide reparations to the state and victims.
The DRC accuses Rwanda of backing the M23 rebel movement, which seized large swathes of territory in the country’s east following a rapid advance last year. Rwanda denies supporting any rebel groups operating in Congo.
Rwanda, for its part, says the DRC is fighting alongside the FDLR, a Congo-based armed group that includes remnants of those responsible for Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.
The conflict in eastern Congo is rooted in that period, after perpetrators of the genocide fled across the border and established bases in Congolese territory. The area has remained volatile since.
UN experts and several Western governments have sided with Kinshasa, concluding that Rwanda has provided support to M23 militants. Kigali has consistently rejected the findings.
In its filing, the DRC accused Rwanda of breaching international conventions on genocide, racial discrimination, and torture.
Kinshasa said the alleged crimes, committed against civilians over three decades, included massacres, extrajudicial killings, torture, sexual violence, and forced displacement.
It is asking the UN’s top court to order Rwanda to end the violations and to award reparations.
There was no immediate response from the Rwandan government.
Leaders of the two countries signed a US-brokered deal in Washington last year aimed at de-escalating fighting in Congo’s restive eastern provinces.
The ICJ case now opens a new legal front in one of Africa’s longest-running regional disputes, further straining relations between Kinshasa and Kigali.
