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| Hissene Habre have been living in exile in Senegal for 20 years |
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on July 20 delivered
a legally binding ruling that Senegal must begin proceedings to try former
Chadian leader Hissene Habre without delay.
The Republic of Senegal, which has been dragging its
feet on Habre’s case for 20 years, was sued by Belgium to the UN's highest
court on March 12, 2012 to force it to bring Mr. Habre to trial for crimes
against humanity or to extradite him to Belgium.
Observers said Belgium’s suing of Senegal at the ICJ is the “most serious international attempt” to date to put Habre, 69, on trial for alleged atrocities committed during his eight-year rule.
ICJ’s Friday ruling also said Habre should be
extradited to face trial in Belgium, if Senegal fails to try him.
Former Chadian leader, Hissene Habre has been in a
long-standing stumped extradition to Belgium where he would stand trial on
allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture.
Habre has been living in exile in Senegal since
1992, the year a truth commission report in Chad said he presided over up to
40,000 political and ethnic-related murders. But he denies allegations of
killing and torturing tens of thousands of his opponents.
"This is a victory for victims that's long
overdue, and now it's high time the courts in Senegal delivered justice,"
the BBC quoted Amnesty International’s Law and Policy Programme Director,
Michael Bochenek as saying.
“The former
Chad president, offered a safe haven in Senegal after his overthrow in 1990,
deserved to be prosecuted for the terrible torture visited on his victims,”
Belgium's representative Paul Rietjens told ICJ in March at the beginning of
the hearing.
"These victims, who accuse him of crimes that
deserve to be prosecuted, deserve justice," Rietjens is quoted to have
said. "Many of them were tortured, incredibly tortured."
The AFP news agency quoted a director general in the
Senegalese government, Cheikh Tidiane Thiam to have told the ICJ at The Hague: "Senegal
is doing its best within the actions considered to be reasonable."
Senegal’s current president Macky Sall has said he
wants Habre to be tried in the country.
In fact, the ICJ ruling coincided with a meeting of legal experts from
the African Union (AU) in Senegal who discussed how Habre could be tried in
that West African country.
At the January 2011 Summit in Malabo, E. Guinea the AU reiterated its decision in 2006 confirming
the mandate given to Senegal to put Hissene Habre on trial expeditiously or
extradite him to any other country willing to put him on trial.
A responsibility the Abdoulie Wade government fell
short of executing on arguments that it lacks the funds and technical expertise
to do so.
“Senegal should carry out its legal responsibility
in accordance with the United Nations Convention against Torture; and the
decision of the United Nations (UN) Committee against Torture,” the AU Assembly
said last year.
Written by Modou S. Joof
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