Former Chadian President Hissene Habre dead at 79

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) - Former Chadian President Hissene Habre, who was ousted in a 1990 coup, died at a hospital in Dakar Senegal, the Senegalese Justice Ministry announced Tuesday.​​​​​​​ He was 79.

Habre, who ruled from 1982 to 1990 with an iron fist, fled to Senegal following the coup.

After being infected with the coronavirus Habre died in a Dakar hospital in intensive care on Aug. 24, said the Chadian consulate said.

Chad’s transitional President Mahamat Idriss Deby sent condolences to Habre’s family.

“Having learned this morning of the sudden death of former President Hissein Habre, I extend my sincere condolences to his family and to the people of Chad. To God we belong and to Him we return," he said.

Habre was sentenced to life in prison in 2016 for war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture by the Extraordinary African Chambers, a tribunal created by Senegal and the African Union.

The sentence set a precedent as being the first time that a country prosecuted a former leader of another nation for rights abuses, and was upheld in 2017 by an appeals court.

He was accused of rape and ordering the killing and torture of thousands of political opponents during his eight-year reign.

The court also ordered him to pay nearly €123 million ($146 million) to victims who suffered rape, arbitrary detention and imprisonment during his rule.

He spent his final years as a prisoner in Senegal.

Media reports indicated that after falling sick, Senegalese President Macky Sall immediately mobilized resources to expedite his medical care.

Habre was born in Faya-Largeau, northern Chad, where he grew up among nomads in the Djourab desert.

He served as a local official before he left for France in 1963 to study law and attended Sciences-Po, the prestigious political science school.​​​​​​​