20100724
Nation

Nairobi — Two Nobel laureates have called upon Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade to speed up the trial of former Chadian dictator Hissene Habré.

This follows similar calls by West African states and the African Union earlier this year.

South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Iran's Shirin Ebadi joined 117 human rights groups and several dignitaries to urge the Senegalese government to hasten the trial of the former dictator.

A statement issued by the rights groups, with nearly 200 signatories, urges President Wade to "hasten the trial of Hissene Habre whose single party regime was characterised by grave exactions and ethnic violence."

The statement issued this week, appeals to President Wade to do all he can "very urgently" so that justice can be rendered to 12,321 victims of human rights violations.

The groups accuse the former dictator of being behind the assassinations of 1,208 people.

"The relatives of the victims of Hissene Habré continue to suffer injustice 20 years later," the statement read.

The petitioners conceded that the past socialist regime of President Abdou Diouf and the incumbent government of President Wade have a part to play since the former dictator continues to live freely in the country.

Help render justice

The statement urged President Wade to yield to pressure to help render justice to those it is due.

Habré fled to Senegal when his bloody regime collapsed in 1990 and was indicted for the first time by a Senegalese court in 2000 when President Wade came to power.

But since then, the process has been facing incomprehensible hitches in spite of massive international pressure.