Twenty-one years after his overthrow and flight to Senegal, the former Chadian dictator Hissène Habré may finally face trial for brutality against his own people. On Tuesday, July 24, four days after the world court in The Hague ruled that Senegal must bring Habré to justice, Senegal and the African Union agreed on a plan for a special court to try Habré. Senegal's new president, Macky Sall, says he wants proceedings to begin later this year.
Souleymane Guengueng was a prisoner in one of Chad's infamous prisons in the 1980s – continuing his fight for justice, he calls on Europe and the international community to step in.
Souleymane Guengueng, the founder of the victims' association, comments on President Wade's announcement that he does not want Hissène Habré to be tried in Senegal anymore.
Eight years ago, Reed Brody stumbled upon the records of one of Africa's most brutal leaders, Chad's Hissène Habré. Now, two decades after he fell from power, Habré finally faces charges for his crimes -- if, that is, the trial actually happens.
The many legal and political difficulties that have delayed the start of the trial against Hissène Habré have led many of his victims to die without seeing justice achieved.
Souleymane Gueng Gueng, a former Chadian political prisoner, describes what it was like to hear the news of Nelson Mandela's liberation while he was still in jail himself.
A casual visitor to the drab committee room in the British Parliament building where the fate of General Augusto Pinochet was decided during five weeks in 1998 and 1999 might have been excused for missing the case's historical significance. The law lords in business suits sat in front of robed and wigged barristers. Cartons of legal materials were piled high on chairs and tables. Most of the audience couldn't even see their lordships, much less understand their endless questioning about the finer points of British statutes and international conventions.
The transfer of former Liberian president and war crimes suspect Charles Taylor to the UN-backed Special Court on Sierra Leone is more evidence that the world has become a less hospitable place for people who are accused of committing atrocities.
The African Union will this month decide the fate of one of the continent’s most brutal dictators -- Hissène Habré of Chad. Habré’s victims, who have been seeking to bring him to justice for 15 years, are counting on South Africa and other democratic countries not to let him slip away again.
Twenty-one years after his overthrow and flight to Senegal, the former Chadian dictator Hissène Habré may finally face trial for brutality against his own people. On Tuesday, July 24, four days after the world court in The Hague ruled that Senegal must bring Habré to justice, Senegal and the African Union agreed on a plan for a special court to try Habré. Senegal's new president, Macky Sall, says he wants proceedings to begin later this year.
Souleymane Guengueng was a prisoner in one of Chad's infamous prisons in the 1980s – continuing his fight for justice, he calls on Europe and the international community to step in.
The many legal and political difficulties that have delayed the start of the trial against Hissène Habré have led many of his victims to die without seeing justice achieved.