Chad’s Hissène Habré guilty of crimes against humanity

Hissène Habré, the former president of Chad, has been convicted of crimes against humanity, the first time an ex-leader has been tried in an African Union-backed prosecution in another African country.

On Monday, the court in Dakar, Senegal also convicted Habré of rape, sexual slavery and ordering killings while in power.

Habré, who seized power in the central African nation in 1982 and ruled it repressively until he was toppled in 1990, was sentenced to life imprisonment.

The former president, who was lauded in 1987 by then US president Ronald Reagan at the White House for expelling Libyan troops from Chad, was responsible for the deaths of about 40,000 people during his eight-year rule, according to a 1992 Chadian truth commission report.

Gaetan Mootoo, Amnesty International's west Africa researcher, said the verdict "demonstrates that when there is enough political will states can work together effectively to end impunity in even the most entrenched situations".

"This decision should also provide impetus to the African Union or individual African states to replicate such efforts to deliver justice to victims in other countries in the continent," Mr Mootoo said.

Repeated threats

Analysts are sceptical that the trial will serve as a precedent for similar prosecutions because of the unique circumstances surrounding the case, which was brought by 4,000 victims of his oppression. Many victims faced repeated threats and intimidation to drop their campaign against Habré. Dozens were in court to hear the verdict on Monday.

The AU only intervened in 2006 after a Belgian judge issued a warrant for Habré’s arrest. The AU said Senegal, where Habré had been granted refuge after fleeing there in 1990, should try him “on behalf of Africa”.

After six years of further delays, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ordered Senegal in 2012 to try Habré or extradite him to Belgium. Senegal's stance on Habré only changed with the election of Macky Sall as president that year.

The AU and Dakar established the Extraordinary African Chambers the following year. The trial lasted 10 months.

Habré, who dismissed the trial as politically motivated, has two weeks to appeal.

Issue of justice

“This court was called extraordinary for good reason: because the case was so unique,” said a senior AU official. “The issue of justice in Africa for Africans is so complex I doubt it will be repeated soon. But, as the circumstances changed in Senegal, they might change elsewhere, too.”

AU support for Habré's prosecution contrasts sharply with its opposition to the International Criminal Court, which has sought to prosecute many current and former African leaders for crimes against humanity.

Many African states argue the ICC is biased against Africans and it recently suffered the embarrassment of effectively having to drop charges against William Ruto, Kenya's deputy president, partly because of allegations of witness interference. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016