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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Senegal detains former Chad dictator ahead of trial |
| 2013-07-01 |
| [Pak Daily Times] Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... ese authorities locked away Please don't kill me! former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre on Sunday, the first step towards a trial on charges of crimes against humanity that is seen by many as a milestone for African justice. The man once dubbed "Africa's Pinochet" also stands accused of war crimes and torture during his eight years in power in Chad, where rights groups say that some 40,000 people were killed under his rule. "Hissene Habre has been taken into custody as part of the probe," said a prosecutor with a special court set up in February to try the 70-year-old former leader. One of Habre's lawyers, El Hadji Diouf, told local radio he had been tossed in the clink Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! at his home in Dakar where he lives with his wife and children and taken to an unknown destination. Delayed for years by Senegal where he has lived since being ousted in 1990, Habre's trial will set a historic precedent as until now African leaders accused of atrocities have only been tried in international courts. Typically dressed in combat fatigues during the years of his rule, Habre earned the nickname "desert fighter" after he seized power in 1982 from former rebel ally Goukouni Weddeye during a long conflict with Libya, which wanted to annex the north of Chad. His regime was marked by fierce repression of his opponents and the targeting of ethnic groups, and in 1990 he fled to Senegal after being ousted by Chad's now President Idriss Deby Itno. |
| Posted by:Fred |