Senegal Not Opposed To Trial Of Hissene Habre
January 26, 2000


DAKAR, Senegal (PANA) - Senegal's justice minister, Serigne Diop, is
reported to have assured human rights organisations that he would not oppose
a possible trial of the former Chadian president, Hissene Habre, in Dakar,
where he has been living since he was ousted from power in December 1990.

"He told us there would be no interference from the government in this
case," Alioune Tine, secretary general of the African Rally for Human
Rights, told PANA Wednesday.

The former Chadian president "will be tried in Senegal, very soon," he
added.

Five Chadians have lodged complaints in a Dakar court against the former
president with the support of several international and African human rights
organisations.

The five plaintiffs, who are members of the Association of the Victims of
Political Crimes and Repression, received the support of a team of
Senegalese lawyers and some American and French counterparts.

Their initiative is also supported by Human Rights Watch and Interrights,
respectively based in New York and London, as well as by the International
Federation of Human Rights league and another NGO, Agir.

According to the African Rally for Human Rights, the present Chadian
government has accused the Habre regime of having killed 40,000 people.

Some 200,000 other individuals were also said to have been tortured by the
Department of Documentation and Security, the political police of the Habre
regime.

"We will keep tracking down all dictators still alive. Idi Amin Dada and
Mengistu Haile Mariam will also be prosecuted sooner or later in African
courts and we will strive to curtail their freedom of movement," Tine said.

Head of state from 1982 to 1990, Habre, 57, now lives in a district in the
suburb of Dakar.

He is accused of having left his country with 11.6 million US dollars.

Idi Amin has been living in Saudi Arabia for some 21 years since his ouster
in April 1979 while Mengistu is in exile in Zimbabwe since May 1991.

In 1999, Mengistu had to hastily leave South Africa, where he was undergoing
medical treatment, when local human rights NGOs threatened to sue him for
crime against humanity.

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Copyright © 2000 Panafrican News Agency. All Rights Reserved.


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