Chad Introduction

Chad is full of an interesting recent history in the area of human rights. In 1982 Hissène Habré came into power. During his rule Chad saw the genocide of 40,000 people (The worst genocides of the 20th Century 2009). Habré formed the Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS) which was his political police (The Case against Hissène Habré, an “African Pinochet” 2009).With the help of the DDS Habré targeted different ethnic groups that he believed were plotting to overthrow him (About HRDAG - Chad 2010). In 1984 the DDS targeted the Sara, in 1987 it was the Hadjarai, and then in 1989 they targeted the Zaghawa (Silva, R., Klingner, J., & Weikart, S. 2010). The DDS tortured and killed people under the command of Habré for 8 years (About HRDAG - Chad. 2010). Once everything unraveled Habré claimed to have no knowledge of crime and torture that was going on in the prisons run by his political police (About HRDAG - Chad 2010). Unfortunately for him when the Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) researched this they found that to completely false (Silva, R. 2010). They found proof of the command line, with Habré sitting on top (Silva, R. 2010).

In 1990 when Habré fell from power he fled to Senegal where he is still hiding out (Posthumus, B 2010). Also from then until the present Habré has been avoiding facing his crimes and trail (Posthumus, B 2010). The people who suffered have been trying to get the recognition they deserve for years (Guengueng, S 2011). In 2005 Belgian Courts issued an international arrest for Habré for his crimes against humanity, war crimes, and torture (Guengueng, S 2011). In 2006 the African Union called on Senegal to proceed with the trail since this is where Habré was (Guengueng, S 2011). However 4 years later they had not done anything to move forward in the trial (Guengueng, S 2011). Senegal’s President Wade requested at this time 40 million dollars to pay for the proceedings (Guengueng, S 2011). This was then negotiated down to 11.7 million dollars (Guengueng, S 2011). After all of that in 2010 President Wade wants the African Union to take back over the case because it is becoming to much for him to handle (Guengueng, S 2011). Threatening to find another place to harbor Habré if they do not (Guengueng, S 2011). Now we will have to wait again to see what will happen with the trial and if the Chadian people will ever get the justice.

References

About HRDAG - Chad. (2010). HRDAG -- Human Rights Data Analysis Group. Retrieved February 14, 2011, from http://www.hrdag.org/about/chad.shtml

Guengueng, S. (2011, January 24). Justice Denied in Senegal | Human Rights Watch. Home | Human Rights Watch. Retrieved February 14, 2011, from http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/01/24/justice-denied-senegal

Posthumus, B. (2010, February 10). The case against Hissene Habre | Radio Netherlands Worldwide . English | Radio Netherlands Worldwide . Retrieved February 14, 2011, from http://www.rnw.nl/international-justice/article/case-against-hissene-habre

The Case against Hissène Habré, an “African Pinochet” | Human Rights Watch. (2009). Home | Human Rights Watch. Retrieved February 14, 2011, from http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/02/11/case-against-hiss-ne-habr-african-pinochet

Silva, R., Klingner, J., & Weikart, S. (2010, February 3). State Violence in Chad. Human Rights Data Analysis Group. Retrieved February 14, 2011, from www.hrdag.org/about/downloads/State-Violence-in-Chad.pdf

The worst genocides of the 20th Century. (2009). Piero Scaruffi's knowledge base. Retrieved February 14, 2011, from http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/dictat.html