By John Chiahemen


ABIDJAN, Jan 27 (Reuters) - The campaign to extradite former Chilean ruler
Augusto Pinochet from Britain could spell the end of quiet retirement of some
of Africa's notorious dictators such as Uganda's Idi Amin, African human
rights activists say.

Emboldened by the Pinochet case, campaigners for human rights in Africa on
Tuesday filed a copy-cat application in Dakar seeking the arrest of ousted
Chadian dictator Hissene Habre, who has been exiled in Senegal since his
overthrow in 1990.

``Hissene Habre's matter is going to scare all the dictators in the continent
-- those who are still alive, like Idi Amin,'' said leading Nigerian human
rights lawyer Gani Fawehinmi.

``I think Idi Amin may be the next person to be taken up for abuses of human
rights while he was in Uganda as head of state,'' Fawehinmi told Reuters by
telephone from Lagos.

``There are many others like Mengistu Haile Mariam (of Ethiopia) who took
solace in slaughtering people...and is hiding in Zimbabwe. He should not be
allowed to get away with that,'' added the lawyer who stood up against
Nigeria's feared late dictator, Sani Abacha.

Alioune Tine of the Dakar-based African Assembly for the Defence of Human
Rights said human rights groups would certainly go for Amin and Mengistu.

``That's for sure,'' he told Radio France Internationale on Thursday. ``Very
likely the next target will be Idi Amin Dada.''

Amin, now 71, seized power in 1971 from president Milton Obote and is accused
of the murders of many politicians, intellectuals and religious leaders who
criticised him.

An estimated 500,000 people were killed during his rule.

He has lived in exile in the Saudi city of Jeddah since he was ousted by
exiled Ugandans and Tanzanian troops in 1979.

HABRE IS TEST CASE

Seven human rights groups filed the criminal complaint in Dakar against
Habre, demanding action ``in the name of all victims'' under his 1982-1990
rule.

Five victims travelled from Chad to witness the action on behalf of hundreds
of others -- victims of torture, relatives of those murdered for political
reasons and ``disappearances'' allegedly carried out in the ex-French colony
under Habre.

``We are asking for Hissene Habre to be arrested before he can take any
action to leave the country,'' said Reed Brody, an official with New
York-based Human Rights Watch, which is spearheading efforts to bring Habre
to trial.

``Hissene Habre is Africa's Pinochet,'' Brody said.

Pinochet was arrested in Britain in 1998 at the request of a Spanish judge
who wants him tried on torture charges arising from his 1973-1990 rule.

A British judge will rule on January 31 whether the Belgian government and
six human rights groups can go to court to seek access to Pinochet's medical
tests, which the British government says show Pinochet, 84, is not fit to be
extradited to Spain to face trial on torture charges.

The campaign to unearth those guilty of past atrocities has been boosted by
the trial of perpetrators of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, NATO arrests of
indicted war criminals in Bosnia, and the report of South Africa's Truth and
Reconciliation Commission which helped reveal some of the worst excesses of
apartheid.

``Now that  there is a redefinition in terms of the right of citizens, nobody
can now plead territorial objections any longer,'' Fawehinmi said.

``The Pinochet thing is raising new areas of protection and advancement of
human rights of citizens of particular countries.''

But in a setback to rights campaigners, attempts by Ethiopia to extradite
Mengistu from South Africa during a medical visit there last month failed.
The former Marxist dictator returned to his exile home in Zimbabwe.

Fawehinmi is confident the Mengistu case can be reactivated.

``It failed because of those who applied. Other people can re-apply. These
things depend on the expertise of the people applying and how much factual
evidence you're able to unearth and excavate from the dungeon of atrocities
committed by Mengistu,'' he said.

Fawehinmi said advances in human rights meant that even sitting presidents
may not be immune to prosecution over alleged atrocities.

17:34 01-27-00

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