U N I T E D N A T I O N S Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) - 1995-2005 ten years serving the humanitarian community [These reports do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] CONTENT: 1 - AFRICA: AU launches people's court 2 - AFRICA: Habre will face trial in Senegal 1 - AFRICA: AU launches people's court BANJUL, 3 July (IRIN) - The African Union on Monday launched the continent's first court that gives states and people equal rights to challenge governments suspected of human rights violations or other infractions. Taking the podium and raising their right hands, 11 African legal experts pledged to "preserve, protect and defend" the African Charter of Human and People's Rights. The swearing-in ceremony took place at the end of a two-day summit of the AU, which was set up to debate continent-wide issues. The African Court on Human and People's Rights, established on paper in 1998, will be based in the Tanzanian capital Arusha. It can apply and rule on any international treaty or law ratified by the state in question, including treaties that do not themselves refer violators to a court. States, AU organs, individuals and non-governmental organisations can all ask for rulings. "This court will strengthen jurisprudence and contribute to the promotion and protection of human rights in the continent," AU Commissioner for Political Affairs Julia Joiner told IRIN. "It means you have another level where states and people can seek recourse before the African Commission [on Human and People's Rights] and prosecutions can be made, not just judgments and resolutions," she said. Impunity has taken center stage recently in Africa. On Sunday, the AU requested that Senegal try former Chadian President Hissene Habre, who has been living in exile in Senegal since 1990. Habre has been charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture. He has avoided trial so far because of legal wrangling over jurisdiction. In June, former Liberian President Charles Taylor was extradited from Sierra Leone to The Hague to answer to war crimes charges. The UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone retains jurisdiction. Officials in Liberia and Sierra Leone feared Taylor could destabilize the region if he were tried locally. Africans in other countries who are keen to take the stand will have to wait until a second court, the African Court of Justice, is set up, said Joiner. That court then has to be merged with the People's Court before cases, such as those involving former rulers, will be heard. Although the People's Court is nascent, Monday's ceremony provided a glimmer of hope at a summit marked by the defeat of a proposed charter on democracy and governance, which was debated and eventually refused by African heads of state. The charter was supposed to make it easier for power to change hands through the ballot box. Negotiations broke down when some African leaders refused to agree to a clause banning standing presidents from extending their term limits by changing their countries' constitutions. nr/cs [ENDS] 2 - AFRICA: Habre will face trial in Senegal BANJUL, 2 July (IRIN) - The African Union has decided that former Chadian president Hissene Habre will take the stand in Senegal to face charges of crimes against humanity, and Senegal's president Abdoulaye Wade has promised that the trial will go ahead. "All the legal provisions will be made so that Habre can be tried in Senegal. It is the African Union which has taken ownership of this dossier and has decided that Habre be tried in Senegal," said African Union president Denis Sassou Nguesso. President Wade, quoted by Agence France-Presse, said: "We thought that Senegal was the best-placed country to judge him and I believe we will not shirk our responsibility." The African Union's ruling, made during its weekend-long summit in the seafront Gambian capital Banjul, ends months of speculation over whether Habre would be extradited to Belgium to face charges under the country's universal jurisdiction laws, or would go free in Senegal, where he fled when a coup deposed him in 1990. After a Belgian court demanded Habre be sent to Brussels last year, Senegal, which was examining the affair for the second time, referred the case to the AU. It in turn appointed an expert panel to rule on the case. The panel recommended to the AU this weekend that Habre face trial but in an African not a European court. Habre ruled Chad throughout the 1980s. His accusers say he is responsible for thousands of tortures and murders in the north-central African country at that time. Reed Brody of the campaigning NGO Human Rights Watch said he was concerned Senegal might drag its feet on the case. "If Senegal which refused to try Habre seven years ago agrees to try him now and commits itself to moving rapidly then that's good. But they do have to act swiftly. The victims have been waiting for seven years, two of the plaintiffs are already dead," he said. The AU's Sassou Nguesso promised that would not happen, saying the case was not "buried". "On the contrary, we have put it on the right track," he said. According to the text of the African Union's decision seen by IRIN, the AU "mandates the Republic of Senegal to prosecute and ensure that Habre is tried on behalf of Africa, by a competent Senegalese court with all the guarantees for his defence, with the requisite transparency". nr/ccr [ENDS] IRIN-WA Tel: +221 867.27.30 Fax: +221 867.25.85 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] IRIN-SA Tel: +27 11 895-1900 Fax: +27 11 784-6759 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] IRIN-CEA Tel: +254 20 622147 Fax: +254 20 622129 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To make changes to or cancel your subscription visit: http://www.irinnews.org/subscriptions Subscriber: [email protected] _______________________________________________ M-net mailing list [email protected] http://mauritanie-net.com/mailman/listinfo/m-net_mauritanie-net.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mauritanie-Net" group. 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