'Africa's Pinochet' still eluding justice

Two years after the African Union mandated Senegal to conduct the trial of Chadian dictator Hissenè Habré, who is accused of thousands of political murders during his eight-year reign, the prosecution remains in limbo, six human rights groups complained in a joint statement on June 23. "Senegal has perfected the art of delay in this case. The African Union's credibility is at stake," said Alioune Tine of the Dakar-based African Assembly for the Defense of Human Rights (RADDHO). "This is a test case for African justice. Africa can't complain that international justice is picking on African leaders while it allows the Habré case to die a slow death in Senegal." Habré ruled Chad from 1982 until 1990, when he fled to Senegal after being deposed by the current president, Idriss Deby Itno. During his regime, Habré and his political police, the Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS), committed violent atrocities, including widespread arrests, systematic torture and the mass murder of ethnic groups throughout Chad, according to Human Rights Watch. Habré and the DDS, all of Gorane ethnicity, practiced ethnic cleansing by targeting various groups from Muslim and Christian tribes such as the Sara, Hdjerai Chadian Arabs and the Zaghawa and imprisoning group members and leaders who posed a threat to his rule. His record of atrocities has evoked comparisons with Chilean strongman Augusto Pinochet. Habre's reign of terror is the subject of a powerful new documentary that premiered in New York at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival this month, titled "The Dictator Hunter" and directed by Klaartje Quirijns. One of the main protagonists is Souleymane Guengueng, who founded the Chadian Association of Victims of Political Repression and Crime (AVCRP) after Habré's fall and is described as "the real motor" behind the Habré case. Falsely accused of being a supporter of Habré's opposition, Guengueng was held prisoner in a cell that was barely high enough to stand up in, with 100 watt light bulbs that made many victims blind, and Guengueng nearly completely blind. For two and a half years, it was as if his head was "exploding from suffering." "I felt like if god would allow me to survive, I could not just let this go, I had to do something. And I prefer to be killed than to give up this fight," Guengueng said. Today, jobless and without his wife and nine children, Guengueng is living in New York City, where he is seeking treatment for his eye condition. If he were to return to Chad, he fears he would be killed by Habré's torturers. In what has resulted in a seven-year battle, Human Rights Watch lawyer Reed Brody -- the "dictator hunter" of the film's title -- has been working with the AVCRP, gathering testimonies from 792 victims to bring Habré to trial in Senegal or extradite him to a country that will bring him to justice. "This case has the potential to have a historical precedent because it doesn't depend on the United Nations or the [Hague-based] International Criminal Court," Brody says in the film. "The Hissenè Habré case is being driven by the victims." Ismael Hachim experienced one of Habré's more popular methods of torture, called "Arbatachar". A prisoner's legs and arms are tied together behind their back, causing extreme pain, lose of circulation, paralysis, open wounds, and sometimes gangrene, according to the "The Dictator Hunter." Hachim was held captive with 30 other victims in a cell that was once used as a swimming pool reserved for the French military. The cells were so full that many died due to lack of oxygen. Others would sleep on the dead bodies until they were taken away, as the corpses kept them cooler. In May 2001, Brody and Olivier Bercault of Human Rights Watch discovered files from the DDS, which revealed the names of 1,208 people who were killed or died in detention, and another 12,000 who were subjected to human rights violations. "I think he was a paranoid control freak who could never tolerate opposition," Brody says. "He knew every detail, you could see that in the documents." The thousands of files included daily lists of prisoners and deaths in detention, interrogation reports, surveillance reports, and death certificates. Details of how Habré placed the DDS under his direct control, organized ethnic cleansing, and kept tight control over DDS operations were also found. A 1992 Truth Commission blamed Habré's regime for 40,000 political deaths, although the exact number of victims is not known. In 2000, Habré was indicted in Senegal but the case was thrown out when his lawyers and a state prosecutor determined that Senegalese courts did not have competence over crimes not committed in Senegal. The victims appealed the decision and worked to have him extradited to stand trial in Belgium. Chadian victims went to Senegal to tell their stories and Senegalese victims confirmed their accounts. On Nov. 15, 2005 Habré was arrested by Senegalese authorities. Yet, under Senegalese law, the court had no jurisdiction to rule on an extradition request against a former head of state. Therefore in July 2006, at the request of the African Union, Senegal agreed to prosecute Habré in a Senegalese court. It is now up to Senegal to go forward with the trial. Reed Brody told IPS, "Everything is ready -- the victims have given the evidence to Senegal, the international community has assured Senegal of the funding for the trial. Senegal now needs to prepare an indictment outlining the charges it intends to pursue against Hissene Habré and then refer the case to an investigating judge." Senegal has not yet prosecuted Habré, but is currently in the process of amending its constitution to allow its courts to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in the past. Yet at the same time, the newly appointed minister of justice, Madicke Niang, the government official in charge of organizing the trial, is a former member of Habré's legal team. Niang declared that judges would be named to investigate the case by June 7, but this has not yet happened. On May 16, Senegal was given 90 days by the UN Committee Against Torture to report on the measures taken to implement its decision under the UN ruling that Senegal was "obliged to submit the present case to its competent authorities for the purpose of prosecution." Failure to comply will result in Habré being extradited to Belgium, or to another requesting state for prosecution. "I've asked myself 1,001 questions [why Habré did this] and I don't have a response. Habré has to say one day why he did this," said Guengueng. The signatories to Monday's statement included RADDHO, AVCRP, HRW, the Chadian Association for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, Agir Ensemble pour les Droits de l'Homme, and the International Federation of Human Rights.