The victims of the Hissène years will be compensated in the coming days. The Chadian Presidency has already instructed the Minister of Finance to contribute to the Compensation Trust Fund. For the moment, the government has announced the payment of 10 billion CFA francs while waiting to know where the African Union is in the establishment of this Trust Fund.
10 billion CFA francs is the pot of money announced by the Chadian government as compensation for Habré’s victims. This measure comes five years after the conviction of the former dictator now deceased. The three associations are desperate to see the victims finally receive the promised compensation, even if they recognize that “some small steps” have been taken in the last two years.
AU-led trust fund
The African Union oversees the trust fund. Ithas allocated him an amount of 5 million dollars. The Chadian government, for its part, has also made a building available to the secretariat of this Fund since last year, and has committed itself for the past ten days to provide this basket with an initial contribution of 10 billion CFA francs, some 15 million U.S. dollars. But it cannot be confirmed at this time whether this money has already been released.
Compensation measure welcomed by associations
Hawa Gamane is the head of one of the three associations of Hissène Habré’s victims. She is satisfied with the Chadian government’s decision, “an example for all other donors,” she says. Hawa Gamane reminds us that there is still work to be done because a total of $150 million must be mobilized to compensate the victims of the Habré regime.
Many lines must move to relieve all of Habré’s victims
The three associations, which claim to have already counted more than 1,600 deaths among these victims since the Habré trial, call on the African Union to act as quickly as possible, “before it is too late. And since that time, no official of the African organization has been willing to react. Clément Abaïfouta, founder of the association of Hissène Habré’s victims, deplores this situation.
“It is a shame, the Board of Directors was created last year, but it has not yet held its first official meeting.
Former President Hissène Habré ruled Chad from 1982 to 1990. His regime caused more than 40,000 deaths. In 2017, he was sentenced to lifefor war crimes and crimes against humanity. Hissène Habré died in August 2021 in Dakar, at age 79.
