Brought to the highest level of African political decision-making by the president of Senegal, the Hissène Habré affair was the subject of an African Union resolution, adopted on January 24 at the Khartoum summit. The African Union had to choose between trying Chad's former dictator in Africa or recognizing an international arrest warrant issued by Belgium last fall [IJT-35]. It decided to set up a "committee of eminent jurists" to "examine every aspect and implication of the Hissène Habré case, as well as the possible options for his trial," by July. Although the Khartoum resolution does not rule out the Belgian request, it does give "preference to an African mechanism." The Belgian minister of justice reacted the following day saying, "avenues of appeal exist and are being contemplated" with respect to Senegal's refusal, albeit not yet officially expressed, to extradite Habré to Belgium. Brussels could refer the matter to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Back in Khartoum, 11 judges were appointed to sit on the African Court of Human and People's Rights, which was established January 28, 2004, but does not yet have a permanent seat.