The East African Court of Justice (EACJ) has delivered a landmark ruling in the dispute between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda, rejecting all preliminary objections raised by Kigali and confirming its jurisdiction to examine the case on its merits.

The case, filed by Kinshasa in September 2023, accuses Rwanda of undermining Congo’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and stability through direct military incursions in North Kivu Province in coordination with the M23 rebel movement.

What the ruling means

The Court found that the alleged acts, attacks in Rutshuru, Masisi, and Nyiragongo territories between August 2022 and March 2023, occurred after the DRC joined the East African Community in July 2022, making the Court fully competent to hear the case.

Rwanda had argued that some incidents pre-dated Congo’s EAC membership, but judges dismissed this reasoning as “without merit.” The bench also rejected Kigali’s claim that the DRC had “no valid cause of action,” recalling that under the EAC Treaty, any member state may bring a case when another is suspected of violating obligations of sovereignty, non-aggression, and regional security.

Context and regional significance

This marks the first time the EAC Court of Justice will examine the merits of an intra-bloc conflict. It comes amid a wider trend of African institutions asserting judicial authority over regional disputes.

In February 2025, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, also based in Arusha, rejected similar Rwandan objections in a separate case filed by Congo concerning human-rights violations and civilian impacts linked to the eastern conflict.

For Kinshasa, the EACJ ruling strengthens President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi’s “judicial front” strategy: pairing diplomacy with legal action to hold Rwanda accountable for alleged war crimes and territorial violations.