The Democratic Republic of Congo filed a case against Rwanda at the International Court of Justice on Friday, alleging violations of international conventions on genocide, racial discrimination, torture and women’s rights. The application asks the court to order Rwanda to cease military operations and pay reparations to Congolese authorities and victims. This is the third time Kinshasa has sought to bring Kigali before the United Nations’ highest court for disputes between states.

Congolese officials say Rwanda has dispatched troops and directed armed groups, including the M23, to carry out unlawful operations on Congolese soil since the 1994 genocide. They cite massacres, extrajudicial killings, sexual violence and forced displacement. Rwanda has not yet responded to the filing, but has consistently denied backing rebel groups. UN experts and Western governments have repeatedly presented evidence that Rwandan forces fight alongside and direct the M23, which seized the regional capital Goma last year. Kigali maintains its actions are aimed at neutralizing Hutu militias, including the FDLR, which it describes as a genocidal force, and accuses Congo of collaborating with them—a charge Kinshasa denies.

The conflict’s roots lie in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, when Hutu extremists fled into what is now eastern Congo, stoking ethnic tensions. The region’s vast mineral wealth, including gold and coltan, has since fuelled competing armed groups. Viewed from Washington, the ICJ filing coincides with a separate US sanctions action against a Rwandan gold refinery accused of smuggling minerals from M23-controlled areas. The US Treasury described a network working in coordination with the rebels, and said the sanctions support US- and Qatari-mediated peace efforts. Analysts in European capitals note that the ICJ case tests the court’s jurisdiction: a 2006 case was dismissed because Rwanda had not accepted the court’s authority under the cited treaties. The new application may hinge on whether Rwanda has since recognised relevant conventions.

The ICJ will now examine the claims, a process that could take years. Meanwhile, a peace deal signed in December under US auspices has failed to halt fighting; a recent trilateral summit expressed serious concern over escalating clashes. The Congolese filing adds a legal track to a crisis that has defied diplomatic resolution, with victims’ groups and human rights organisations in Africa and beyond watching whether the court can provide a path to accountability.