Senegal to try Habre
2006-07-02 16:51
Banjul - Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade said on Sunday his country would try Chad's former leader Hissene Habre, wanted by Belgium for trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
"We thought Senegal was the country best placed to try him (Habre) and I think we must not flee from our responsibility," Wade told journalists at an African Union (AU) summit in The Gambia's capital.
"Africans must be judged in Africa, that's why I refused to extradite Hissene Habre to Belgium," he added.
Habre fled to Senegal after being deposed in 1990 by the current Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno.
Habre has been charged by Belgium with war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture allegedly committed during his eight-year rule, following charges brought by some of his alleged victims, Belgians of Chadian origin.
Wade called on the AU to help organise the trial. The case "concerns the whole of the African continent", he said.
"Our concern is the search for truth, as much for Hissene Habre as for the alleged victims."
Wade had referred the matter to the AU after Senegal had previously declared that its courts did not have the competence to rule on a Belgian extradition request.
AU leaders met on Sunday morning before Wade's announcement to consider an experts' report on the matter which recommended that the case be settled in Africa, an African diplomatic source said.
Reed Brody of the global non-government group Human Rights Watch welcomed the announcement and called on Senegal to act quickly to try Habre.
The alleged victims had already waited 15 years for justice, he said, and two of them were already dead.