HISSENE HABRE PROSECUTION STALLED

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAKAR 001452 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR S/WCI, DRL/AE AF/W, AF/RSA AND INR/AA PARIS FOR POL - D'ELIA E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/11/2017 TAGS: PHUM KJUS PINR SG CD SUBJECT: HISSENE HABRE PROSECUTION STALLED Classified By: POLITICAL OFFICER OSMAN N. TAT FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND ( D). SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) International and domestic press are reporting accusations by human rights groups that Senegal is &dragging its feet8 on prosecuting former Chadian President Hissene Habre. Stephen Rapp, Special Prosecutor for Sierra Leone, discussed the issue during March 2007 meeting with Ambassador Jacobs and Senegalese officials. Reed Brody from Human Rights Watch has also visited Senegal to urge progress but heard that Senegal wants 66 million euros to create a special court to try Habre. END SUMMARY. BACKGROUND -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Since his arrest in February 2000, Habre has yet to face charges that he allegedly sanctioned 40,000 politically motivated murders and had 200,000 people tortured during his eight-year presidency. Maintaining that they did not have jurisdiction over crimes committed in Chad, Senegal had refused to put him on trial. President Wade gave Habre a month to leave the country, but the UN intervened, afraid that he may be exiled to a country where he would escape prosecution. In 2005, Belgium issued an arrest warrant to try Habre in its courts which, because they are based on universal law, can try human rights abuses regardless of where they are committed. Senegal refused to extradite him. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND CURRENT STATUS -------------- ¶3. (SBU) In 2006 the African Union (AU) mandated that Habre be prosecuted, and while Senegalese law was then modified to permit him to be tried, the process stalled over the allocation of funds for a new courthouse. Human rights groups, as well as the victim,s representatives, assert that a trial can easily take place in current structures. Time is now becoming a major issue for those seeking to prosecute Habre as many of the surviving witnesses of his regime,s alleged brutality are dying. Senegal continues to ignore a May 2006 UN ruling that it has violated the UN Convention against Torture by failing to prosecute or extradite him. The European Union expressed a willingness to help financially with the trial, but has yet to be contacted by Senegal. Some speculate that Habre will remain immune from prosecution because he maintains close ties to government ministers and to the Tidjane brotherhood through his friendship with Senior Minister of Justice Cheikh Tidiane Sy. ¶4. (U) Stephen Rapp, Special Prosecutor for Sierra Leone, discussed the issue during March 2007 meetings with Ambassador Jacobs and Senegalese officials. Reed Brody from Human Rights Watch has also visited Senegal to urge progress but heard that Senegal wants 66 million euros to create a special court to try Habre. COMMENT -------------- ¶5. (C) Citing &African solutions to African problems8 the AU is adamant that Senegal should host Habre,s trial rather than Belgium. The AU,s credibility continues to be tarnished by this inability to demonstrate its authority over member states. The initial opposition between an African and a European trial has now boiled down to a conflict between holding a trial versus none at all. Human rights groups believe that with Minister Sy on his side, Habre will never be tried. ¶6. (U) Visit Embassy Dakar,s SIPRNET Web site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/af/dakar. JACOBS