Senegal to send Habre back to Chad

N’Djamena – Senegal is to send former president Hissene Habre back to Chad, where he is accused of having committed atrocities during his rule, the government said on Friday, a decision Senegal confirmed separately.

Habre will be returned to the country of his birth on a private plane on July 11, following a directive by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, Chad said in a statement.

“President Abdoulaye Wade informed his friend President (Idris) Deby of his decision,” to send by Habre next Monday on a special flight chartered by the Senegalese government, the statement said.

Senegalese government spokesperson Moustapha Guirassy confirmed the decision in a separate statement from Dakar.

Senegal “would send Hissene Habre back to his home country on July 11 on a special flight”, his statement said.

Ten years after Habre was indicted in Senegal for mass murder and torture, his case has yet to come to trial.

Habre, dubbed “Africa’s Pinochet”, fled to Senegal after being toppled in 1990.

A 1992 truth commission report said during his time in power he presided over up to 40,000 political murders and widespread torture.

The African Union mandated Senegal to put him on trial in 2006 and the country changed its penal code to include crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.

However Senegal’s insistence on full up-front international funding of €27m has held the case up for years.

In December, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade said he wanted to “get rid of” Habre, who is currently living in a chic suburb of the seaside capital, by handing the case back to the African Union.

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