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UN court orders Uganda to pay $325 million in compensation to Congo for violence
The Arab News reported, citing the Associated Press, the International Court of Justice on Wednesday ordered Uganda to pay $325 million in compensation to Congo for violence in a long-running conflict between the African neighbors that began in the late 1990s.
The compensation order came more than 15 years after the UN court ruled in a complex, 119-page judgment that fighting by Ugandan troops in Congo breached international law.
The court’s president, US judge Joan E. Donoghue, said: “The court notes that the reparation awarded to the DRC for damage to persons and to property reflects the harm suffered by individuals and communities as a result of Uganda’s breach of its international obligations."
The sum awarded was well below the request for more than $11 billion in damages Congo had submitted to the court.
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The court broke down the compensation into different categories of damages. It assessed $225 million for “loss of life and other damage to persons” that included rape, conscription of child soldiers and the displacement of up to 500,000 people.
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It assessed another $40 million for damage to property and $60 million for damage to natural resources, including the plundering of gold, diamonds, timber and other goods by Ugandan forces or rebels they supported.
Source: arabnews
