The former head of state in Chad died on Tuesday, August 24, of covid-19 at the age of 79. He was hospitalized at the end of August in Dakar, Senegal – where he was serving his life sentence – after suffering from the disease.
A member of the Toubou pastoral ethnic group, Hissène Habré grew up in the Djourab desert. After independence, he was appointed sub-prefect by President Tombalbaye. That same year he traveled to France where he ended a long school career. It is specifically reviewed by the Institute of Political Studies.
In 1972, he returned home and quickly founded an uprising that became known through the kidnapping of Westerners, in particular the researcher Françoise Claustre. On April 4, 1975, the French commander Galopin, who had come to negotiate the release of French hostages, was tortured and executed.
In the conflicts of the time, he posed as a defender of Chad’s integrity against Libyan appetites. Habré was appointed prime minister in 1978, but inter-Chadian fighting resumed very quickly. He overthrows the president on June 7, 1982. He stays at the head of the Chadian state for almost 8 years before he was overthrown in 1990 by Idriss Déby. His years of power are marked by many crimes. A commission of inquiry, after its fall, is talking about about 40,000 dead.
Hissène Habré was sentenced to life in prison in Dakar in May 2016 by the extraordinary African chambers … He was convicted of crimes against humanity, rape, execution, slavery and kidnapping. A conviction was upheld on appeal a year later. He has been serving his sentence in Senegal ever since.
.
