Six weeks have elapsed since Belgian judge Daniel Fransen issued an arrest warrant for the former president of Chad, Hissène Habré, for "serious violations of international humanitarian law" *see IJT-33+. Habré is currently exiled in Senegal. This will be the second time that the Senegalese courts will have to rule on the fate of their guest, whose uninterrupted reign in Chad from 1982 - 1990 was marked by tens of thousands of political assassinations. In 2000, he escaped legal proceedings in Senegal. Five years later, his chances of avoiding extradition to Belgium appear to be slim.
In January 2000, Chadian victims filed charges against Habré before a Dakar court and introduced documents detailing several hundred acts of violence committed by the Chadian Office of Documentation and Security (DDS), the political police of Chad's ex-Head of State. The Senegalese judge charged him with complicity in crimes against humanity. One year later, the appeals court ended up ruling that Senegalese courts do not have jurisdiction to try crimes committed outside Senegal. Boucounta Diallo, attorney for the victims and current president of the National Human Rights Organization in Senegal, notes that "despite the fact that the proceedings have ended, a former African Head of State was charged for the first time by a Senegalese judge."

New evidence

Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade, anxious to portray the image of a country conscious of its international obligations, agreed in September 2001 to keep Habré in Senegal until another State capable of organizing a fair trial could claim him. In so doing, the Senegalese Head of State was complying with the Convention Against Torture that his country had ratified in 1986. Thus, Habré has been under house arrest since 2001. At the same time, twenty more Chadian victims, including three with Belgian nationality, filed charges against the exdictator in Brussels. New evidence was gathered. While visiting a former DDS prison in 2001, Human Rights Watch discovered more than 2,000 documents including reports and birth certificates. Belgian judge Fransen went to Chad in February 2002 in the context of an international commission rogatory, during which he interviewed victims and former DDS agents and organised confrontations between them. The same year, Chad lifted Habré's immunity.
Since the Chadian authorities have never requested that he be extradited, the conditions now appear to be ripe for the former dictator to answer for his crimes before the Belgian courts. On October 10, Abdoulaye Wade said on the French television station TV5 that he was waiting for the decision by the Dakar court of appeals, with which he would comply "out of respect for the sovereignty of justice." Belgium has every reason to be confident. Gérard Dive, an advisor to the Minister of Justice, believes that "even though there is no extradition agreement between Belgium and Senegal, the Convention Against Torture, to which both states are parties, should logically prevail."

Domestic pressure

The Senegalese government, however, does not seem to be in a rush. The matter, which is primarily in the hands of the Senegalese president, appears to be complicated by domestic pressures. According to persistent rumors, Habré is enjoying the protection of religious leaders. In addition, Senegal is on the eve of important elections - the 2006 legislative elections - and is in the throes of a major political crisis with the arrest of Idrissa Seck, the number two man in the President's party. Not wanting to lose any support, Wade could be tempted to postpone consideration of Habré's case to calmer times. He is not sure the international community will give him that much time. It is following this case closely, as evidenced by the recent positions taken by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, UN commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, and the President of the African Union, Alpha Oumar Konaré. They are all urging Senegal to uphold its international commitments.