[JURIST] Uganda [JURIST news archive] announced Thursday it would commence reparation negotiations with the Democratic Republic of Congo [JURIST news archive] in late 2006, following Monday's International Court of Justice ruling [JURIST report; PDF text] that Uganda violated Congo's sovereignty during a 1998-2003 war [BBC backgrounder] and was responsible for human rights abuses and the plundering of Congolese natural resources. A top civil servant in the Ugandan foreign affairs ministry reiterated the country's claim that it acted in self-defense, saying "We reject all those accusations but we shall sort them out in the negotiations. Our troops were there to liberate Congo and defend our sovereignty … It is going to be a slow and quiet negotiation involving no third parties." Congolese officials have demanded reparations [JURIST report] of between 6 to 10 billion dollars. The ICJ says it will establish the amount of reparations itself if the two nations cannot agree. AP has more.