Chad's ex-leader Habre, Cold War-era ally of West, gets life in prison for atrocities

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Former Chad president Hissene Habre, a Cold War ally of the West, was convicted on Monday of war crimes and crimes against humanity for ordering the killing and torture of thousands of political opponents during his eight-year rule.

The verdict capped a 16-year battle by victims and rights campaigners to bring the former strongman to justice in Senegal, where he fled after being toppled in a 1990 coup in his impoverished central African nation.

Habre, 73, was sentenced to life in prison by the Special African Chamber (CAE), a tribunal created in 2013 by Senegal and the African Union. He was also convicted of rape.

Dressed in white robes with dark sunglasses and a head scarf covering most of his face, Habre was defiant after his conviction and sentence were announced, raising his arms and shouting to his supporters as he was led from the courtroom.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-senegal-justice-habre-idUSKCN0YL1DH

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World | Mon May 30, 2016 11:16am EDT
DAKAR | BY DIADIE BA

[karynnj]

1. Statement fromJohn Kerry and the US State Department

The United States welcomes the Extraordinary African Chambers' issuance of the judgment finding former Chadian President Hissene Habre guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including charges of murder, torture, rape, and sexual slavery, and sentencing him to life in prison. This ruling is a landmark in the global fight against impunity for atrocities, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Habre’s crimes were numerous, calculated, and grave. Beginning in 1982, his eight-year term as the president of Chad was marked by large-scale, systematic violations, including those involving murder of an estimated 40,000 people, widespread sexual violence, mass imprisonment, enforced disappearance, and torture. Without the persistence of his accusers and their demand for justice, Habre might never have faced a court of law. I especially commend the courage of the nearly 100 victims who testified, and I hope the truths uncovered through a fair and impartial trial will bring some measure of peace to his thousands of victims and their families.

As a country committed to the respect for human rights and the pursuit of justice, this is also an opportunity for the United States to reflect on, and learn from, our own connection with past events in Chad. I strongly commend the Senegalese Government, the Chadian Government, and the African Union for creating the Extraordinary African Chambers that allowed for a fair and balanced trial. Let this be a message to other perpetrators of mass atrocities, even those at the highest levels and including former heads of state, that such actions will not be tolerated and they will be brought to justice.

http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2016/05/257811.htm

The boldest sentence, which will obviously not satisfy some is a rare suggestion by a top US figure questioning US actions.

[forest444]

2. Another Reagan "freedom fighter" bites the dust.

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I wonder if Habré knew about Reagan's "African parrot" jokes when this picture was taken.[/center]