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| |  | | Hissène Habré | | | context : | Chad  | | judgement place : | Belgium | | status : | Sought - Arrest warrant | | particulars : | Belgian international arrest warrant issued in September 2005; extradition proceedings unclear in Senegal | | position : | President of Chad |
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| | | | Born in 1942, Hissène Habré ruled the former French colony of Chad from 1982 until his ouster by the current President Idriss Déby and his flight to Senegal.
His one party regime was marked by widespread violations of human rights and mass campaigns of violence against his own people. On occasion he undertook persecutions by making collective arrests and committing mass murders against different ethnic groups, especially when he perceived their leaders to be a threat to his regime. This was particularly true of the Sara and other groups from the South (in 1984) the Hadjaraï (in 1987) and the Zaghawa (in 1989).The exact number of Habrés’ victims remains unknown to this day. In 1992, a Commission of Enquiry of the Chadian Justice Ministry, set up by his successor, accused the Habré government of 40’000 politically motivated murders and systematic torture. The greater part of these abuses were carried out by Habré’s dreaded political police, the Documentation and Security Directorate, which reported directly to Habré.
The United States and France both supported Habré as a bulwark against the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi who had territorial designs on the north of Chad. During the Presidency of Ronald Reagan, the United States provided covert CIA paramilitary support to enable him to take over power in his country. The USA subsequently furnished Habré with massive military aid and not only trained the DDS, but also provided them with arms and financial assistance. Despite the 1974 kidnapping by Habré and his men-at the time in revolt against the central authorities- of the French anthropologist Françoise Claustre, and the murder of Captain Galopin who had come to negotiate the release of his compatriot in 1975, France also lent strong support to Habré on his coming to power, by providing him with arms, logistical help and intelligence, and by launching the military operations “Mantra” (1983) and “Epervier” (1986).
As early as 1992 the Commission of Enquiry recommended taking legal action against the perpetrators of the atrocities, but the current government of Chad has never attempted to extradite Habré from Senegal nor has it taken any legal action against his accomplices who remained behind in Chad
(Excerpts adapted from Human Rights Watch, The Case Against Hissène Habré, an “African Pinochet”, www.hrw.org/justice/habre/intro web2.htm
Legal proceedings taken in 2000 in Senegal against Habré by several of his victims were dismissed through a finding of lack of jurisdiction on the part of the Senegalese judicial authorities thus putting an end to any proceedings in that country (see under “ramifications”)
However even before the decision of the Senegalese Court of Final Appeal, other victims had quietly filed a complaint in Belgium against Hissène Habré. | |     click for more... | | Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty. | |  |  | | last time seen : | | | Dakar (Senegal) | | | period of charges : | | | 10.1982 - 01.12.1990 | | | charges : | | | Crimes against humanity
Torture | | | profile last modified : | | | 13.07.2007 |
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