Senegal changes law to try Habre

by BBC
Wednesday, 09 April 2008

Senegal’s national assembly has amended the country’s constitution to allow the trial of Chad ex-leader Hissene Habre.

Mr Habre, dubbed “Africa’s Pinochet”, is accused of human rights abuses during his eight years in power.

He has been living in exile in Senegal’s capital under nominal house arrest since fleeing Chad in 1990.

There have been a number of international efforts to bring him to justice, but Senegal has always refused to accept any extradition requests.
In 2006, the African Union (AU) asked for him to be prosecuted in Senegal.

However, an earlier Senegalese court ruling said that it did not have jurisdiction to try Mr Habre on war crimes charges.

The BBC’s Tidiane Sy in the capital, Dakar, says now that the constitution has been changed, it clears the way for the case to proceed.

The only obstacle could be lack of funds, he says, although last year France pledged to assist Senegal financially and technically to bring Mr Habre to trial.

Mr Habre was deposed in an uprising led by the current President, Idriss Deby, and denies knowledge of the alleged murder and torture of political opponents.

A commission of inquiry said his government was responsible for some 40,000 politically motivated murders and 200,000 cases of torture.
Story from BBC NEWS

Senegal finalising budget for landmark Habre trial

By Daniel Flynn

DAKAR, June 13 (Reuters) - Senegal is finalising a budget for the trial of former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre on charges of mass political killings and torture and will seek international aid to pay for this test case for African justice.

Habre, who has lived in the West African state since his overthrow in 1990, is accused of ordering 40,000 killings and 200,000 cases of torture during an iron-fisted nine-year rule over his own landlocked country.

His long-delayed trial is billed by rights campaigners as a landmark case for human rights in Africa, where leaders have rarely been brought to account for abuses of power.

The trial of former Liberian strongman Charles Taylor, which convened this month in The Hague, has revived debate on prosecuting rights abuses in Africa. Taylor is accused of crimes against humanity for backing rebels in Sierra Leone.

But nearly a year after the African Union mandated Senegal to bring Habre to trial, human rights campaigners accuse the government of dragging its feet.

Sources close to the case said Senegal’s Justice Ministry initially proposed a 66 million euro ($88 million) budget for the trial, including a new court building and a panel of 15 judges, but this was rejected by President Abdoulaye Wade.

“President Wade has asked the national commission working on this dossier to limit costs to the maximum, without damaging the judicial process and the rights of the accused and witnesses,” Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio said late on Tuesday.

“Once the budget has been finalised it will be submitted to the international community,” he said, adding that European Union countries had expressed interest in contributing.

Rights campaigners reacted with dismay in January when Gadio estimated it could take three years to bring Habre to trial. He said on Tuesday his comments were misconstrued.

“If with international cooperation we arrive at a budget acceptable to everyone, and the African Union mobilises resources, we are determined to bring this case to an end.”

BELGIUM SOUGHT EXTRADITION

Many Africans remain hostile to having the continent’s leaders tried overseas. An African Union summit last year rejected an extradition request for Habre from Belgium, a former colonial power in Africa, and mandated Senegal to try him.

Although African presidents have been tried by their own nations for crimes committed in office, such as Jean-Bedel Bokassa of the Central African Republic and Ethiopia’s Mengistu Haile Mariam, Habre’s trial would be the first time one African state has tried a leader for crimes committed in another.

Seven years after Habre was first arrested in Dakar on human rights charges, campaigners warn that unless the trial is held soon many witnesses may be unable to testify.

“Time is running out. Survivors continue to die — including two who filed the case against Hissene Habre in Dakar in 2000,” said Reed Brody, a lawyer for Human Rights Watch.

Senegal’s justice system ruled then that it was not competent to try the case. But in February, Senegal remedied this by approving legislation enabling it to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture even when they are committed outside the country.

The wealthy ex-dictator keeps a low profile in Dakar but still wields considerable influence. Two of Habre’s lawyers currently hold ministerial posts in the Senegalese government.

Victims group slams Senegal over Habre trial delay

31 Jan 2007 12:21:27 GMT

 By Pascal Fletcher DAKAR, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Victims of torture under the rule of former Chad President Hissene Habre accused Senegal on Wednesday of trying to put off his trial for several years and said they had already waited too long for justice. Senegal, where Habre has lived in exile since his overthrow in 1990, agreed at an African Union summit last year to try Habre, who faces charges over 40,000 political killings and 200,000 cases of torture registered during his administration. Habre has said he was unaware of the abuses, which were condemned by a subsequent Chadian government inquiry. The N’Djamena-based Association of Victims of Political Crimes and Repression in Chad said it was “very surprised” by media reports quoting Senegal’s foreign minister saying it would take at least three years to organise a trial for Habre. Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio made the comments on Tuesday on the sidelines of an AU summit in Addis Ababa, arguing that legal procedures required time. “It’s now more than 16 years since Hissene Habre fled Chad and went to hide in Dakar and his victims have been seeking justice from Senegal for seven years,” the victims’ group said. “We don’t see why we still have to wait for another three years for this trial,” it added in a statement. “AFRICA’S PINOCHET” Ahead of this week’s AU summit, international human rights groups had also called on African leaders to press for a speedy trial by Senegal. They call Habre “Africa’s Pinochet” after the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet whose political police were accused of committing widespread killings and torture. But Gadio rejected what he called “paternalistic and sometimes even disrespectful pressure” from outside Africa, saying Senegal would deal with Habre in its own time. “We’ll deal with him ourselves at home and nobody is going to impose a particular speed on us,” he told France’s RFI radio. Victims say Habre’s political police imprisoned, tortured and murdered tens of thousands of Chadian civilians suspected of opposing his rule during a reign of terror in the 1980s. Senegalese courts have previously decided they cannot try Habre and refused to rule on an extradition request by Belgium. The West African country must pass new legislation against torture to provide the legal basis for the trial to go ahead. The Dakar government approved the necessary legislation and created a commission to prepare the trial in November, when it also appealed for foreign funding for the case, but parliament has yet to start dealing with the bill. The Chadian victims’ group said the case against Habre had already been prepared in both Belgium and Senegal and there was no need for further lengthy legal work. “It is entirely fair that Hissene Habre’s rights should be respected, but this should not take place to the detriment of the victims and their rights to obtain justice,” the association said in its statement. Habre leads a reclusive life in a Dakar mansion but has won support among Senegal’s politically influential marabouts, or Muslim teachers. Senegal holds presidential elections on Feb. 25 and some observers believe any advance in the Habre case may only take place after the polls. (Additional reporting by Diadie Ba)

Bring Hissene Habre to Justice !

Welcome to Bring Hissene Habre to Justice.

This is a weblog dedicated to all those who fight to bring the ex-Chadian dictator to justice for all his crimes against the Chadian people during his reign from 1982 to 1990 when he was ousted by his formed commander in chief of the Army, General Idriss Deby. Prosecuting Hissene Habre is also synonym of prosecuting General Idriss Deby because of prominent role and implications in the genocides of the Sara (1984), the Hadjeray… 

Justice and Truth always prevail against evil. The path maybe long and tortuous but sooner or later, we’ll bring those who committed evil against our people to justice. No one must get away with genocide and crimes against humanity. Under Hissene Habre, thousands of innocent lives were silenced. Thousands were arrested, tortured in the prisons of the notorious Directorate of Documentation and Security (DDS), and cold bloodily executed. Under Habre, any sign of opposition was a rebellion and was brutality stopped. Villages were looted and burned down, harvests destroyed to starved the populations, women were raped, children murdered. People were hunted down like gazelles and viciously assassinated. Thousands of Chadians were arrested and disappeared forever under the rule of Habre. We’ll never know where their bodies were dumped after they got murdered. We’ll never know. We’ll ever be a closure? Not for some of us until the monster is brought to justice. 

Yes, under Hissene Habre, thousands were put on the routes of exile to save their lives. The extermination of the Sara and the other ethnic groups was a high priority in the Habre regime. Intellectual, Engineers, Students, Politicians, farmer…everybody was a target. Hissene Habre wiped out hundreds of Southern brains just because he saw them as threat to his regime. In 1984, operation ” Black September” was launched and the entire South was under siege. It’s been a very dark period of our history and we’ll never forget.  It’s no different than what Hitler did to the Jews. It’s no different than what Pol Pot did to the Cambodians. It’s no different than what Milosevic perpetrated against the Bosnians, the Croats and the Kosovars. It is no different than what happened in Rwanda in 1994. It was clearly a well planned, well designed, well organized and well coordinated genocide against the civil populations of the South of Chad. It was the genocide the world didn’t care about or it was the genocide the world decided to not know about. Why? We were not that important. There were better priorities maybe. As in the Rwandan genocide, the world sat back, closed its eyes and let thousands of lives got silenced forever. I have lost so many people during Black September 1984. My younger brother, aged 9, was shot on September 17, 1984 in the farm of Deli, 30km from Moundou, in the South of Chad. I was 11 but I will NEVER forget what happened. It was the turning point of my life. That dark day has changed my life forever. My childhood got taken away from me that same day and I started behaving like a man from that day on. I have never been the same after Black September 1984. I saw so many love ones, friends, and strangers, killed. I saw my younger brother bleed and die of his wounds. I will never forget all the images. More than 20 years after, nothing has gone away. When I think of that period, it looks like it was tomorrow because the images are still vivid in my mind. I can remember the weather that very morning. I can remember the blue sky that turned red later. I can remember the smell, the sounds of AK 47 and heavy weapons, I can remember the screams of women, children. I can remember the agonizing wounded and their painful and heartbreaking cry for help. I can still remember the band of vultures flying above the farm after the massacre. And I can also remember the two men who got shot under my father’s bed. The impacts of the bullets were still visible in the house we were on the day of the massacre. And I can remember my younger brother, James, lying down, in an ocean of blood. He was dead. 

  

Ex-Chad leader’s trial ‘delayed’

Chad’s former President Hissene Habre will not be tried in exile in Senegal for at least three years, Senegal’s foreign minister has said. Cheikh Tidiane Gadio said that time was required to establish many aspects of the judicial process.

Mr Habre, dubbed Africa’s Pinochet, faces charges of alleged human rights abuses during eight years in office.

He fled to Senegal in 1990 and last year the African Union (AU) asked for him to be prosecuted there.

“To respect the rules… the rights of the accused as well as the rights of the victims, the inquiry will take time and Hissene Habre will not be judged for at least three years,” Mr Gadio said after an AU summit in Ethiopia, AFP news agency reports.

Earlier attempts to prosecute Mr Habre in Senegal have been hampered by judicial rulings preventing him from being tried there.

But last November, the Senegalese government said preparations were under way for the trial and that domestic law would be changed to accommodate the prosecution.

In the absence of any prosecution two years ago, Belgium moved to try Mr Habre under its human rights laws, which allow nationals of any country to face charges within Belgium.

However, the AU ruled that Africa should dispense its own justice.

Mr Habre, who is in his 60s, was deposed in an uprising led by current President Idriss Deby and denies knowledge of the alleged murder and torture of political opponents.

A Commission of Inquiry formed after he was deposed in 1990 said his government carried out some 40,000 politically motivated murders and 200,000 cases of torture in the eight years he was in power.

His dreaded political police force, the Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS), was accused of some of the worst abuses.

Senegal closer to try ex-Chadian leader

Chadian ex-Dictator Hissène Habré: «Murder, torture and other atrocities.»

© afrol News / Human Rights Watch

afrol News / IRIN, 3 November - Human rights groups today welcomed Senegal’s announcement that it will establish a commission to prepare the trial of exiled Chadian Dictator Hissène Habré, who has been indicted on charges of crimes against humanity, including the torturing of thousands of citizens.

“It is an important step in the right direction,” Reed Brody of New York-based Human Rights Watch told the UN media ‘IRIN’ today. “Now Senegal has to follow this up with concrete steps, changing its laws, putting in place the infrastructure for a trial, raising the money from the international community, doing the work. It is not going to be easy and this is just the first step.”

Mr Habré has been living in exile in Senegal since 1990. Alleged victims of his eight-year regime filed charges of war crimes against him in Senegal and he was indicted in 2000. But then Senegalese courts ruled that he must be tried elsewhere. Ex-President Habré’s alleged victims then turned to Belgium, where some of them lived, and Belgium indicted him last September.

A Senegalese court early this year said it was not competent to rule on the case and turned the decision over to the African Union (AU). In July the AU mandated that Senegal prosecute Mr Habré.

Senegal announced on Thursday that it would revise its laws to permit Mr Habré’s trial. It also said it would establish an inter-governmental commission to oversee the legal changes, make contact with Chad, create a witness protection programme and raise money to carry out the investigation and trial. The Dakar government also appealed for financial support from the international community.

Mr Brody, who serves as lead counsel for the alleged victims, said much still needs to be done to ensure that ex-President Habré stands trial in terms of financing, planning, and organising the various judicial and international aspects of the case.

“We are looking at investigating massive crimes that were committed far away that in the best of circumstances will take a year or two,” he said.

Mr Habré’s critics have dubbed him the “Pinochet of Africa”. Chilean ex-President Augusto Pinochet presided over a military dictatorship for nearly 20 years, during which time thousands of government opponents were killed or disappeared. Also Mr Habré is accused of murder, torture and other atrocities allegedly inflicted on thousands of people.

By UN media IRIN

© afrol News / IRIN

Who’s HH?

Biography

Hissène Habré was born in 1942 in Faya-Largeau, Chad; relatively little information is available about his early life and education.

Background

Chad gained independance from France on 11 August 1960 under the leadership of François Tombalbaye, who was the first president of Chad. Chad is a country largely divided by ethnicities, with the North largely Muslim and the South largely African. Tombalbaye’s autocratic style, combined with tensions that already existed with Muslims developed into riots in 1965 and eventually a civil war, with Tombalbaye losing control over part of the country. Eventually France was called in to assist the government in the situation and the civil war did quiet down.

But in 1971 Momar Khaddafi backed a failed coup against Tombalbaye, which only added to Tombalbaye’s control problems in the country; towards the end of his regime it also became evident that Tombalbaye’s sanity began to slip away from him. On 13 April 1975 Felix Malloum was installed after Tombalbaye was killed in a military coup. Problems with Libya’s support terrorists again the Chadian, never did subside, as Khaddafi continued to pressure Chad militarily.

Habré’s first prominent role in the Chadian government was as Prime Minister, a role which he assumed on 29 August 1978 under Malloum. When Malloum’s rule came to an end in 1979, Habré ascended to the Minister of Defense under Goukouni Oueddei . However a schizm with Oueddei, who had loyalties with Libya, whereas Habré was pro-West, led to Habre’s exile from the country in 1980.

Habré in Power and the War against Libya

On 07 June 1982, Habré led a military coup against Oueddei, who was forced to flee to Algeria. Habre immediately called for the immediate extermination of tribal groups hostile to him.

In 1985, with the war against Libya now raging for several years, Habre, with US and French assistance, was able to drive the Libyans back, and by 1987, it was clear that Libya was beaten, when Habré drove the Libyans out of Koro Toro. In 1988 a peace accord was signed.

Habré’s rule

Habré was a brutal dictator, with as many as 40.000 killed during his rule, although exact numbers are difficult to obtain. He is known to have carried out campaigns of terror and genocide against the segments of the population in both the North and the South (for example, Sara (1984), Hadjerai (1987) and Zaghawa (1989)), purging groups that he alleged were opposing him. Habré’s Direction de la Documentation et de la Sécurité (DDS), which acted as his secret police, was known for cruel and widespread terror and torture tactics, assassinations and mass murders.

Habré was therefore extremely unpopular with his population, and eventually his military advisors began to plot his removal from office; on 01 December 1990 he was overthrown by Idress Déby, who installed himself as a military dictator. Habré fled the country to Senegal, but not before murdering another 300 political prisoners the day before he left the country.

Habré’s Exile

After spending large amount of money to obtaining significant support in Senegal, Habré attempted to enter back into Chad with his supporters in 1992, capturing two towns before being repelled by French and Chadian troops.

Since Habré’s flight from Chad, he has been accused for numerous of atrocities, and was placed by the Senegalese government under house arrest on 03 February 2000. A long battle ensued to have him brought to justice in Senegal but attempts to have him stand trial were unsuccessful, as he did not commit his crimes in Senegal.

Original article by www.dictatorofthemonth.com
(c) 2005- all rights reserved

Sources:

http://www.hrw.org/editorials/2001/habre0515.htm http://www.explore-biography.com/biographies/H/Hiss%E8ne_Habr%E9.html http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/africa/chad/history.htm http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/h/habre.htm http://www.trial-ch.org/trialwatch/profiles/en/facts/p87.html

Fact Sheet

Name: Hissène Habré
Country: Chad
Birthday: 1942
Died: still living
Dates in Power: 07 June, 1982- 01 December 1990
How Leader Came into Power: military coup
Classification: military dictator
Nuclear Capability: no
Major Achievements: Brutal dictator of Chad responsible for terrorizing his population with his secret police resulting in up to 40.000 dead and countless tortured

A Trial For Hissene Habre

07 July 2006 

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The African Union endorsed Senegal’s decision to try Hissene Habre (hee-SEHN HAH-BRAY), the former president of Chad. Mr. Habre has been living in Senegal since being overthrown in 1990. In May, the United Nations Committee Against Torture said that Senegal would be violating international human rights laws by not taking action.

Hissene Habre ruled Chad from 1982 to 1990. A commission set up by the Chadian government says that his regime was responsible for some forty-thousand politically-related deaths and two-hundred-thousand cases of torture.

Kolawole Olaniyan, director of Amnesty International’s African Program, says, “Habre’s victims have been fighting for sixteen years to see justice done.” He says, “It is time for Habre to face trial for his alleged crimes.”

Reed Brody, an attorney with Human Rights Watch, says the prosecution is “a real turning point in the international effort to bring Habre to justice”:

“I think this is a victory of law over politics. You have two legal bodies, one the U-N Committee Against Torture, and the other this expert panel from the African Union, who have both said to Senegal, ‘Look, this is your responsibility. You signed the torture convention. You ratified it and said that if an alleged torturer came onto your territory, you would not give that person safe haven’”.

The U.S. is also a signatory of the convention. President George W. Bush has “called on all nations to speak out against torture in all its forms and to make ending torture an essential part of their diplomacy.” He said, “No people, no matter where they reside, should have to live in fear of their own government.”

The preceding was an editorial reflecting the views of the United States Government.

ONU - Le Conseil de sécurité autorise le transfert de Charles Taylor à La Haye

Le Conseil de sécurité a donné aujourd'hui son feu vert au transfert de l'ancien président du Libéria, Charles Taylor, à La Haye où il sera jugé pour crimes contre l'humanité par le Tribunal spécial pour la Sierra Leone, dans les locaux de la Cour pénale internationale (CPI). Le Conseil de sécurité a donné aujourd'hui son feu vert au transfert de l'ancien président du Libéria, Charles Taylor, à La Haye où il sera jugé pour crimes contre l'humanité par le Tribunal spécial pour la Sierra Leone, dans les locaux de la Cour pénale internationale (CPI). Le Conseil de sécurité a adopté aujourd'hui la résolution 1688 (2006) dans laquelle il se félicite de ce que « le gouvernement néerlandais soit disposé à accueillir le Tribunal spécial pour la Sierra Leone pour la détention et le procès de l'ancien président Taylor ». Le Conseil prend acte de ce que « la CPI est disposée à prêter ses locaux » pour la détention et le procès de Charles Taylor devant le Tribunal spécial pour la Sierra Leone. Conformément à l'article 10 de l'accord signé le 16 janvier 2002 entre les Nations Unies et le gouvernement sierra-léonais, le président du Tribunal peut autoriser une chambre de première instance ou un juge à exercer ses fonctions hors du siège du Tribunal. Le Conseil demande par ailleurs à tous les états de « coopérer » et les « encourage à faire en sorte que tous éléments de preuve ou témoins soient, à la demande du Tribunal spécial, mis promptement à sa disposition ». Il demande au Tribunal spécial de faire en sorte que « les populations de la sous-région puissent suivre le déroulement du procès, notamment par liaison vidéo ». Le Conseil exprime sa gratitude à la présidente du Libéria, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, pour la décision « courageuse » qu'elle a prise de demander de déférer de Charles Taylor devant le Tribunal spécial. Il a aussi exprimé sa gratitude au président du Nigéria, Olusegun Obasanjo, pour avoir facilité le transfert de l'ancien président du Nigéria au Libéria le 29 mars dernier. Par la résolution 1637, votée en novembre dernier, le Conseil de sécurité avait autorisé la Mission des Nations Unies au Liberia (MINUL) à placer en détention Charles Taylor, s'il retournait dans son pays, et à le transférer au Tribunal spécial pour la Sierra Leone. Dans le préambule de la résolution, le Conseil note que le procès de Charles Taylor ne peut avoir lieu actuellement à Freetown au siège du Tribunal spécial en raison des problèmes de sécurité qui se poseraient. La présence de l'ancien président dans la sous-région serait un obstacle à la paix et à la stabilité au Libéria, en Sierra Leone et dans la région, estime le Conseil. Le gouvernement britannique a déclaré hier que Charles Taylor pourrait purger sa peine de prison au Royaume-Uni s'il venait à être condamné. Cette décision a été immédiatement saluée hier, en conférence de presse, par le Secrétaire général comme « une nouvelle étape importante dans notre bataille contre l'impunité pour les crimes les plus atroces » (dépêche du 15.06.06). L'ancien président du Libéria vivait en exil au Nigéria depuis 2003, après avoir signé, le 18 août 2004, l'accord de paix au Libéria qui l'exclura du pouvoir. Charles Taylor a été inculpé, le 3 mars 2003, par le Tribunal spécial pour la Sierra Leone pour crimes contre l'humanité - et notamment esclavage sexuel et mutilation - perpétrés dans ce pays au cours d'une guerre civile qu'il a alimentée (dépêche du 29.03.06). Il se trouve actuellement en détention au Libéria. Il a plaidé « non coupable » à l'issue de sa première audience devant le Tribunal spécial pour la Sierra Leone