The payment of reparations for a total of $325 million has been awarded to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over the 1998 invasion by Ugandan backed forces. 

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague ruled in favour of the DRC in 2005, but the case returned to court after talks over financial compensation broke down.

The judgement is far below the billions that were initially being sought. The legal case stretches back more than 20 years, for a conflict that officially lasted five years and killed thousands of people.

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As legal arguments were being weighed up in a series of long-running hearings, millions were still dying of starvation and disease – and hostilities continued after the official ceasefire. 

Uganda was one of the countries that invaded Congolese land when it sent troops into the Ituri province, rich in gold and natural resources, in 1998. It also backed rebel groups that plundered resources and engaged in ethnically motivated conflict.

Back in 2005, the International Court of Justice in The Hague found Uganda guilty of entering the DRC by force, and fighters it supported were guilty of murdering, raping and torturing civilians. 

The reparations payment of $325 million is far below what the DRC was initially seeking, and the court entirely rejected claims about the damage done to the economy.

"The DRC has not provided a basis for arriving at even a rough estimate of any possible macroeconomic damage," said ICJ president Joan E Donoghue.

"The court therefore cannot award compensation to the DRC for losses allegedly arising from the general disruption to the economy as a result of the conflict. The court thus rejects the claim of the DRC for macroeconomic damage."

On numerous occasions, the court referred to the limited evidence supplied to support claims about the damage done, and crimes committed in the DRC. It highlighted the difficulties with establishing the exact impact of the conflict in remote regions, many years ago.

The ruling comes at a time when Ugandan troops are back in the DRC, conducting joint operations with the Congolese army to root out militants of the Allied Democratic Forces in the east of the country.

This ruling should mark the end of the legal hearings, but instability and violence in DRC continue to this day, almost 25 years after it first began.