DAKAR: Senegal prepared Monday to begin the trial of former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre, 25 years after he fled there following an eight-year blood-soaked reign of terror at home. Once dubbed “Africa’s Pinochet,” the 72-year-old has been in custody in Senegal since his arrest in June 2013 at the home he shared in an affluent suburb of Dakar with his wife and children. Rights groups say 40,000 Chadians were killed between 1982 and 1990 under a regime propped up by fierce crackdowns on opponents and the targeting of rival ethnic groups he perceived as a threat to his stranglehold on the central African nation. Delayed for years by Senegal, the trial will set a historic precedent as until now African leaders accused of atrocities have been tried in international courts.

AFP