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Senegalese court to try former Chadian dictator Habre

A court in Senegal must try the former dictator of Chad for human rights violations he is accused of committing during his eight-year rule, an African Union (AU) panel said on Sunday.

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade said at the AU meeting on Sunday that he would comply with the request.

The decision appeared to bring to a conclusion the search for a court to try Hissene Habre, the Chadian dictator who is accused of widespread atrocities from 1982, when he took power in a coup, to 1990, when he was deposed.

An inquiry overseen by his successor, Idriss Deby, accuses him of killing 40,000 people and torturing 200,000 others. Habre has lived in Senegal since his ouster.

"This is a victory for human rights in Africa," said Ismail Hachim Abdallah, a victim of torture at the hands of Habre's government.

Habre was first charged with human rights crimes in 2000 by a Senegalese court, but the court later ruled it did not have the authority to try him. Then last year a Belgian court issued an arrest warrant for Habre under a law that allows Belgian courts to prosecute crimes against its citizens wherever they are committed.

But Senegal refused to extradite Habre, instead asking the AU to study the issue. A panel of legal experts was formed which issued a decision on Sunday that Habre should be tried in Senegal. It recommended that Senegal pass a law allowing its courts to have jurisdiction over the crimes Habre is accused of committing.

"Africans must be judged in Africa," Wade told reporters at the AU summit meeting. "That is why I refused to extradite Hissene Habre to Belgium."
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