INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
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Website: www.icj-cij.org
Press Release
Unofficial
No. 1998/46
30 December 1998
Guinea brings a case against the Democratic Republic of Congo
to the International Court of Justice
THE HAGUE, 30 December 1998. The Republic of Guinea has brought a case against
the Democratic Republic of Congo to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
In a unilateral Application entitled “Applicatiwith a view to diplomatic protection” and
received at the Registry on 28 December 1998, Guinea requested the Court to “condemn
theDemocratic Republic of Congo for the grave breaches of international law perpetrated upon
the person of a Guinean national”, Mr. Ahmadou Sadio Diallo.
According to Guinea, Mr. Ahmadou Sadio Diallo, a businessman who had been a resident of
the Democratic Republic of Congo for 32 years, wa s “unlawfully imprisoned by the authorities of
that State” during two and a half months, “divested from his important investments, companies,
bank accounts, movable and immovable properties, then expelled” on 2 February 1996 as a result
of his attempts to recover sums owed to him by the Democratic Republic of Congo (especially by
Gécamines, a State enterprise with a monopoly with regard to mining) and by oil companies
operating in that country (Zaïre Shell, Zaïre Mobil and Zaïre Fina) by virtue of contracts concluded
with businesses owned by him, Africom-Zaïre and Africontainers-Zaïre.
Failing an amicable agreement on the dispute, Guinea decided to resort to the International
Court of Justice.
As a basis of the Court’s jurisdiction, Guin ea invoked the declarations by which it and the
Democratic Republic of Congo accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court.
Guinea deposited such a declaration on 11 N ovember 1998 with the Secretary-General of
the United Nations; the Democratic Republic of Congo (the former Zaïre) on 8 February 1989.
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The full text of the Application of the Republic of Guinea will soon be available on the
Court’s website at the following address: http://www.icj-cij.org
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Guinea brings a case against the Democratic Republic of Congo to the International Court of Justice