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[p.299]
The International Court of Justice,
Composed as above,
After deliberation,
Having regard to Article 48 of the Statute of the Court and to Articles 44,
48 and 79, paragraphs 2 and 3, of the Rules of Court,
Having regard to the Application filed in the Registry of the Court on 28
May 2002, whereby the Democratic Republic of the Congo instituted
proceedings against the Rwandese Republic in respect of a dispute concerning
"massive, serious and flagrant violations of human rights and of
international humanitarian law" alleged to have been committed "by Rwanda on
the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in flagrant breach of
the sovereignty and territorial integrity [of the latter], as guaranteed by
the United Nations and OAU Charters"; [p 300]
Whereas in its Application the Congo relied on a certain number of grounds
in order to found the jurisdiction of the Court;
Whereas on 28 May 2002, after filing the Application, the Agent of the Congo
submitted a request for the indication of provisional measures, citing
Article 41 of the Statute of the Court and Articles 73 and 74 of its Rules;
Whereas by Order of 10 July 2002 the Court, on the one hand, held that it
"does not in the present case have the prima facie jurisdiction necessary to
indicate those provisional measures requested by the Congo" and, on the
other, "in the absence of a manifest lack of jurisdiction", rejected
Rwanda’s request that the case be removed from the List;
Whereas in the same Order the Court further held that "the findings reached
by [it] in no way prejudge[d] the question of the jurisdiction of the Court
to deal with the merits of the case or any questions relating to the
admissibility of the Application, or relating to the merits themselves";
Whereas, at a meeting held by the President of the Court with the Agents of
the Parties on 4 September 2002, Rwanda suggested that the procedure
provided for in Article 79, paragraphs 2 and 3, of the Rules of Court
(1978), as amended on 5 December 2000, be followed, and that the questions
of jurisdiction and admissibility in the case therefore be determined
separately before any proceedings on the merits; whereas the Congo stated
that it would leave the decision in this regard to the Court; and whereas
the Parties agreed that, in the event that this procedure was followed, the
Rwandese Republic would first present a Memorial dealing exclusively with
those questions and that the Democratic Republic of the Congo would reply to
it in a Counter-Memorial confined to the same questions;
Taking account of the views of the Parties regarding the procedure to be
followed and the time-limits to be fixed,
Decides that the written pleadings shall first be addressed to the questions
of the jurisdiction of the Court to entertain the Application and of its
admissibility;
Fixes the following time-limits for the filing of those pleadings:
20 January 2003 for the Memorial of the Rwandese Republic;
20 May 2003 for the Counter-Memorial of the Democratic Republic of the
Congo; and
Reserves the subsequent procedure for further decision.
Done in English and in French, the English text being authoritative, at the
Peace Palace, The Hague, this eighteenth day of September, two thousand and
two, in three copies, one of which will be placed in the [p 301] archives of
the Court and the others transmitted to the Government of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo and the Government of the Rwandese Republic,
respectively.
(Signed) Gilbert Guillaume,
President.
(Signed) Philippe Couvreur,
Registrar.
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