AU team in Habre talks
2006-05-22 21:25
Addis Ababa - An African Union legal team on Monday began closed-door talks at AU headquarters here on how to deal with the case of wanted former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre, now exiled in Senegal.
The panel is expected to deliberate for three days on whether and how Habre should be tried for alleged atrocities committed during his 1982-2000 rule in Chad, officials said.
"The comittee has started meeting this morning," AU deputy commission chief Patrick Mazimhaka told AFP.
"They have three days to deliberate and do the job, that's why they have to be protected from any kind of pressure."
The panel was set up in January when Senegal asked the pan-African body to rule on the Habre's case after a Senegalese court declared itself incompetent to deal with the matter.
'All options'
It is charged with looking into "all options" for his possible prosecution, but the meeting opened days after a UN body said Senegal should try Habre itself or extradite him to Belgium, where he faces charges over alleged atrocities.
The UN committee against torture ruled on Friday that Dakar was in breach of international human rights rules because it had failed to deal with Habre, who has lived in exile in Senegal since being deposed in nearly 16 years ago.
Habre, 63, known as "Africa's Pinochet", is wanted for trial in Belgium in a suit filed by of three Belgians of Chadian origin who accuse the ex-leader of arbitrary arrest, mass murder and torture.
Two years after he was toppled by Chad's current President Idriss Deby, an official truth commission accused Habre's regime of about 40 000 political murders - among whom only 4 000 victims have been officially named.