Top UN court rules: Uganda to pay $325 million in reparations to DR Congo.

Uganda has paid $65m in the first instalment of the $325m it was ordered to pay the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as compensation for losses caused by wars in the 1990s when Ugandan troops occupied Congolese territory.

“It’s true we have paid $65m as the first instalment,” finance ministry spokesman Apollo Munghinda said on Monday. The payment was made on September 1, he added.

 DRC government’s spokesman, Patrick Muyaya, confirmed to Reuters news agency that the first of the five instalments had been received.In a case first brought against Uganda in 1999, DRC asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to compel Uganda to pay it $11bn as reparations for the deaths, looting and general economic damage caused by Uganda’s military occupation of parts of DRC in the 1990s.

After lengthy proceedings, the ICJ, United Nations’ highest court, ruled in 2005 that Uganda had violated international law by occupying parts of eastern DRC and supporting other armed groups during a conflict that raged from 1998 to 2003.The court, which deals with disputes between states and whose rulings are final and cannot be appealed, ordered the two parties to negotiate reparations. In 2015, however, the DRC told the court that the talks had stalled.

The court assessed another $40m for damage to property and $60m for damage to natural resources, including the plundering of gold, diamonds, timber and other goods by Ugandan forces or rebels they supported.