Senegal’s Wade bets local rice can make the country self-sufficient by 2015

As more than 1,000 people marched in Dakar to protest high cost of living, Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade claims he has created a plan to make the country self-sufficient in rice by 2015.

He calls for a massive crop expansion and irrigation program that will increase rice production six-fold to 600,000 metric tons. The government estimates that 250,000 hectares of land are currently free in northern part of the country and the Casamance River valley. Irrigation shouldn’t be as difficult because rice is presently grown near the edge of the Senegal, Saloum and Casamance rivers, and irrigated from recessional flooding.

IRIN admitted that most agriculture experts they spoke to gave their tepid support for Wade’s targets, but nobody came out and guaranteed they would be met. One expert claimed the biggest problem will be increasing yields, but the Minister of Agriculture argued that Senegal’s rice yield of six metric tons per hectare is better than Thailand’s. (The United Nation Food and Agriculture Organization isn’t too certain about the government’s numbers.)

Then there’s the issue of money: One estimate calls for $335 million in funding is necessary for infrastructure costs and leveling the land. That amount presently equals the country’s entire agriculture budget.

Mark supplying credit for rice producers and processors as another issue. Like most West African farmers, Senegal’s rice producers buy supplies on credit and then payback the loans when they sell their crop. However, those with bad credit have been denied anymore loans, basically kicking them out of future rice production. One way to break the credit log jam would be for investors and donors to establish cooperative banks to work with farmers of all credit histories, says the Council on Non-Governmental Organizations and Development Support.

The biggest obstacle facing this project is that few Senegalese eat local rice. That's because local rice is hard to find in the country’s markets because it carries a bigger price tag than imported rice from Thailand and Vietnam, who together control 75 percent of Senegal’s market. As world rice prices have hit record highs, people must shell out more to continue eating the grain.

Rice dependency remains a problem throughout the continent, says the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. A little more than half of the rice produced in Africa is consumed by local people, the group says. In many countries, rice imports have increased lockstep with rice demand. The group says it is working with farmers from different countries to create stress-tolerant rice seeds that are palatable to local tastes.

Wade: hear no evil, see no evil

From AfricAsia:

Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade said Monday there was neither famine nor hunger riots in the west African country, blaming a recent rally on opposition groups.

"There is no famine in Senegal. There are no hunger riots in Senegal," Wade said while inaugurating an agricultural project in this village 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Dakar.

Wade's comments followed an article in the French daily Le Parisien, widely commented upon in Senegal's private media, about the rise in food prices in Senegal and a March 30 rally against them.

Police cracked down hard on the rally, banned by the authorities, using batons and teargas and arresting some two dozen people.

Wade blamed the rally on opposition groups looking to gain attention and journalists seeking "sensation."

The Senegalese government has moved to soften the blow of rising food prices, which it blames on cost increases in the international market, by cutting taxes and increasing subsidies on staples.

Victors' justice: Case against Hissène Habré clears final legal hurdle

It’s official: Senegal can now try former Chadian leader Hissène Habré for alleged crimes committed while he was head of state in the 1980s.

Senegal’s national assembly amended the country’s constitution prohibiting prosecuting crimes committed prior to the existence of laws against them, providing Senegalese courts a “crimes against humanity” loophole. In plain speak: The move clears the final legal obstacle in trying Habré, who has lived in Senegalese exile since 1990 after being deposed by current leader Idriss Déby.

The list of human rights violations allegedly committed during Habré’s eight-year rule is staggering. Here’s what we had to say back in November about the potential case against him:

It is safe to say that even if Habré is never brought to trial, the world will by no means miss his years in government. According to Human Rights Watch, the overview of his rule reads like this:

His one party regime was marked by widespread violations of human rights and mass campaigns of violence against his own people. On occasions he undertook persecutions by making collective arrests and committing mass murders against different ethnic groups, especially when he perceived their leaders to be a threat to his regime. This was particularly true of the Sara and other groups from the South (in 1984) the Hadjaraï (in 1987) and the Zaghawa (in 1989).The exact number of Habré’s victims remains unknown to this day. In 1992, a Commission of Enquiry of the Chadian Justice Ministry, set up by his successor, accused the Habré government of 40’000 politically motivated murders and systematic torture.

The New York-based human rights organization, which assisted in the investigation against Habré, claims to have documentation on the details of 97 political killings, 142 cases of torture, 100 “disappearances” and 736 arbitrary arrests. The group also brought up a report by a French medical team treating more than 580 torture victims.

I’ve got friends in low places
As this story gathered steam in the last six months or so, many focused on African leaders’ reluctance to try a former head of state for human rights abuses because they themselves one day may be running from the gallows of public justice. However, it appears clear that Habré had very few well placed friends left.

One reason is the tenacity of those building the legal case against him. They began in the courtroom in Senegal as early as 2000, when a lower court found him guilty. A higher court threw out the verdict, citing the aforementioned constitutional issues. In 2005, Belgium issued an international arrest warrant for the ex-dictator, putting some Africans on the defensive that a former colonial power would attempt to meddle in their justice system. However, the tide on the continent began turning. In 2006, the African Union urged Senegal to try the case and the UN Commissioner for Human Rights worked with the country to revise its legal system. Perhaps most importantly, the European Union even offered to pay for the proceedings.

It is not known when a trial against Habré will get underway.

One month in and refugees feel at home in Mauritania

From IRIN:

One month has passed since the first 102 Mauritanian refugees officially returned home after some 19 years in exile in Senegal. Before they left many said they feared local Mauritanians would resent them coming but those IRIN has talked with since they arrived said their fears are being allayed as they are being very well treated.

“Our welcome was warm and respectful,” said Mamadou Keita, 25 years old returnee who arrived on 29 January. Another returnee Binta Lero Sow, living six kilometres north of the town of Rosso told IRIN, “It is going well. We don’t need anything.”

A total of 30,000 Mauritanian refugees are still living in Senegal and Mali. Ethnic clashes in 1989 with Arab Moors living in neighbouring Senegal were behind the expulsion of black Mauritanians by the Arab-dominated government of former president Maaoua Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya.

Senegal human rights campaigner opposes legalized homosexuality

Repercussions still felt in Senegal’s after the arrest – and later release – of men allegedly involved in a same-sex union.

From Afrik.com

The chairman of the national Council of Amnesty Senegal, Samba Guissé, has called on all affiliate groups of the Senegalese chapter of Amnesty International (AI) to oppose any campaign aimed at legalising homosexuality in the country. In a statement issued here, Guissé urged the various groups to dissociate themselves from the position of the International Human Rights Federation (FIDH) calling on the Senegalese authorities to "review the criminal code with a view to to decriminalising homosexual acts".

Guissé denies FIDH’s claims that "member organisations (including Amnesty International Senegal) had requested the Senegalese authorities to review the criminal code to abolish the criminalisation of homosexuality". He said that rights activists, particularly those belonging to AI Senegal, had no right, even in defence of human rights, to ask Senegal’s core values be ignored and trampled upon.

Senegal: police release alleged members of homosexual wedding; investigation continues

From BBC:

Police in Senegal have released several men arrested over the publication of pictures said to depict a wedding ceremony between two men.

No official reason has been given for their release.

The pictures were published in Icone magazine, whose editor, Mansour Dieng, has since received death threats.

Homosexuality is illegal in Senegal but it is not clear whether the arrests were in connection with the ceremony or the death threats.

Mr Dieng has also been questioned by police over the issue.

The BBC's Tidiane Sy in Senegal said that at least five of those arrested appeared in the photographs.

Agence France Presse said the authrotieis will continue their investigation into the case.

"The release does not mean that they have no case to answer. It is only part of the investigations, the process is ongoing," she said adding that other suspects are being hunted down.

…

A police official said the five suspects had been questioned over "gross indecency and marriage against nature".

…

Under Senegalese laws acts "against nature with an individual of the same sex" are punishable with a maximum penalty of five years in jail and a fine of between 100,000 CFA francs (150 euros, 225 dollars) to one million francs.

A Dakar-based pan-African human rights body RADDHO, has meantime expressed its concern at the "hatred of homosexuals" displayed through the country's public media.

The case is the start of "a disturbing rise in homophobia and hatred of homosexuals in public opinion (in Senegal)".

Senegal: Arrests made in connection to homosexual marriage

From the BBC:

Police in Senegal have arrested several men following the publication of pictures claiming to depict a wedding ceremony between two men.

The pictures were published in Icone magazine, whose editor, Mansour Dieng, has since received death threats.

Mr Dieng has also been questioned by police over the issue.

Homosexuality is illegal in Senegal but it is not clear whether the arrests were in connection with the ceremony or the death threats.

…

The ceremony is believed to have involved a Senegalese man and another from Ghana or the Ivory Coast, who has not yet been found.

Mr Dieng told Africa Global News that he published the pictures to dismiss accusations that an earlier article on homosexuality in Senegal was untrue.

A few points here. The BBC story points out – “Senegal is a predominantly Muslim country and gay men and women remain socially marginalized” – yet both statements are not mutually exclusive, and I’d argue Islam has no effect on the anti-homosexual beliefs of Senagalese or any other West Africans. From what I know about West Africa (admittedly not much), most people either don’t believe homosexuality exists in their countries or if it does, they feel it’s a transgression.

Here are a few theories for this. One could look at the fact that West Africa is made up of predominately rural, agrarian societies with very strict interpretations of gender roles. For many, homosexuality upsets that balance. Of course, that’s a bit shallow, isn’t it? We could also envisage that historically high infant mortality rates (and other factors: male virility, etc.) have instilled high social value to procreating and raising as many children as possible. Once again, homosexuality upsets that apple cart. And, to be fair, high birth rates are starting to fall as a number of people living in the cities are holding off on having kids until they can become better financially established.

When the topic of AIDS comes up in discussions, more than a few West Africans will blame either the Americans or Europeans for the disease’s spread. I’ve had people point out that U.S. morals are generally very sloppy, and allowing people to live as open homosexuals is one of their main arguments. (I’d also say that a relatively small ethnic group in southern Burkina Faso allows widows to cohabitate together. But this isn’t considered homosexuality.)

In the end, we tend to forget that gay marriage is controversial issue in the United States. We can’t forget about the sordid history of sodomy laws, either.

Mauritanian refugees trickling home

Ever so slowly, Mauritanian refugees are beginning to return home from Senegal.

From IRIN:

Of the 35,000 Mauritanian refugees who settled in Senegal 18 years ago, 24,000 have expressed interest in returning home, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), although the Mauritanian government has said it is expecting 15,000 to 20,000 returnees.

After several delays to the start-date, and with many questions still remaining, 115 black Mauritanians who have lived in Senegal for over 18 years, returned home via Rosso a town in the south-east that borders Senegal on 29 January.

The governments of Mauritanian and Senegal are working with UNHCR to run the returns process in stages, starting with 20 families.

While UNHCR and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) will provide the returning refugees with blankets, mosquito nets, basic sanitation supplies and food for three months, after this they will be left to support themselves.

Moussa, a black Mauritanian from the capital Nouakchott, said that it is after the UN agencies leave that the difficulties might become more acute.

"The refugees have not received any concrete guarantees,” he said.

Opposition questions Senegalese election commission

With Senegalese local and municipal elections scheduled for May, opposition parties feel the body responsible for overseeing the vote is not autonomous enough to carry out its tasks in an impartial manner.

Moustapha Niasse, who ran against Abdoulaye Wade for president in Febrauary 2007 under the banner of Alliance Forces for Progress, AFP, would like to change the National Autonomous Electoral Commission, CENA, before voting begins. After running in the Presidential contest, a group of opposition parties formed a coalition known as the Siggil Senegal Front and boycotted the June parliamentary elections, citing irregularities in the Presidential vote.

President Wade’s party, Senegalese Democratic Party, won 131 out of 150 seats in the National Assembly.

From AllAfrica.com:

The election commission, accused of allowing frauds to take place, defends itself and accuses opposition parties of spending their time criticising its work, instead of working constructively.

But, faced with strong criticism, the commission released earlier this month a 79 -page report indicating the 2007 parliamentary elections were "conducted in a generally correct and acceptable manner". The body also argued that it performed its tasks "seriously and rigorously".

However, in the same report, the commission mentioned that: "Although these elections were conducted peacefully, they had a somehow bitter taste because of the opposition's decision to boycott."

Since the report was released, opposition parties have gone one notch up in their attacks against the commission, amplifying any petty detail contained in the CENA's document which mentions a flaw in the system.

Trial against Hissene Habré inches closer to reality

As promised, a delegation from the European Union arrives in Senegal to prepare for the trial of former Chadian Hissene Habré.

Since fleeing Chad in 1990, Habré has lived in Senegal. The former dictator will be tried in a special court for violating the rights of between 12,000 and 40,000 people.

From Afriquenligne:

The EU delegation will meet with President Abdoulaye Wade, who called for the help of the international community to organise the trial, which total cost is estimated at 28 million euros.

Belgium had issued an international arrest warrant against Habré following complaints lodged at the Brussels, Belgium, tribunal by four Chadian-born Belgians, but Senegal opposed his extradition.

Here is an outline of the issues surrounding this case and a summary of the evidence against Hissene Habré.

Mengistu Haile Mariam where are you?

Religious leader's death offers insight to Mouride brotherhood

From Reuters:

The leader of Senegal's powerful Mouride Muslim brotherhood has died at the age of 92, throwing into mourning a movement that holds huge influence and whose trade networks span the globe.

The brotherhood is the biggest centre of religious, economic and political influence in the mainly Muslim country in West Africa, and counts among its followers octogenarian President Abdoulaye Wade.

Caliph Serigne Saliou Mbacke died on Friday in Senegal's holiest city Touba, known to some as "little Mecca".

The Mourides
There are a couple takes on Mourides who follow the teachings of Cheikh Amadou Bamba, a Senegalese mystic and spiritual leader who died in the 1920s. This “Servant of the Prophet,” as he is known amongst his followers, led a pacifist struggle against French rule while “renewing” Muslim traditions through a series of poems, writings on meditation, work and Koranic study. His main beliefs include that one does not fight with weapons, but through submission to marabouts – Islamic teachers – and hard work.

More orthodox Muslims claim the group’s hazy teachings and veneration of Amadou Bamba, sometimes to the neglect of the Prophet Muhammad, skirts the fine-line of heresy. Also, some of the Mourides’ minor sects worry believers. For example, the group Baye Fall whose members wear dreadlocks, dress in rags and can be exempt from Muslim edicts of praying five times a day and fasting during the month of Ramadan.

Social reformers in West Africa have begun questioning the increase of talibés (garabouts elsewhere in West Africa), young male Koranic students who spend their days walking with large tomato paste cans begging for food and money, which go directly to their marabouts. As population (and poverty) increases in rural Sengal, more families send their children to these marabouts, some of whom are not interested in teaching koranic verses, but earning a livelihood through the talibés’ money through begging.

Anti Colonial
While he never engaged the French militarily, the colonial rulers wearied of Amadou Bamba’s growing power and exiled him to Gabon and later Mauritania. Eventually he was allowed to return home, after the authorities realized Bamba was not interested in fighting their power (he eventually helped enlist followers in the French cause during World War I).

Many commentators note that the group’s insistence on hard work allowed them to control many aspects of economic life in Senegal, where believers make up nearly one-third of the population. For example, much of the country’s groundnut market was controlled by Mourides for decades. When prices of the crop bottomed out, followers left the countryside for Senegal’s cities (and some went abroad).

However, the group keeps its faith in hard work, leading one news organization to claim that the group is financially supported by followers selling fake Prada bags from Hong Kong to Rome to New York. This dedication to work and commerce has turned Amadou Bemba’s birthplace, Touba from a dusty village into the capital of a global business network. Each year, an estimated one million people make a pilgrimage to Touba.

Mourning period
Caliph Serigne Saliou Mbacke was the last living son of Amadou Bemba. His body was buried in Touba before his death was announced. President Abdoulaye Wade called for a three-day mourning period, which ends today. The Associated Press reports that an estimated four million people will visit Mbacke’s grave.

Plus rien ne M’éttone: Tiken Jah Fakoly banned from Senegal

Abdoulaye Wade making more friends. From Reuters:

Senegal banned reggae star Tiken Jah Fakoly from the West African country on Wednesday after he strongly criticized President Abdoulaye Wade at a concert in Dakar and called on him to "leave power".

Fakoly, one of Africa's best-loved musicians and famed for his outspoken criticism of the continent's corrupt leaders, added his voice to rights groups who have accused the octogenarian Wade of becoming increasingly authoritarian.

The president's critics say Senegal's once-bright democratic credentials have been tarnished by Wade's political manoeuvres to position his son to succeed him, the detention without trial of critical journalists and the diminishing power of parliament.

"Mr president, if you love Senegal, leave power!" Fakoly said during the concert on Wednesday, to rapturous cheers and applause from hundreds of Senegalese, before launching into his anthem for corrupt politicians "Quitte le pouvoir" -- "Leave Power".

Senegal round-up: Street hawker eviction postponed, but what gives?

The government of Senegal postponed until January a controversial measure to evict thousands of street sellers from Dakar’s centre ville, Reuters reports. The announcement comes just days after the plan sparked the fiercest riots seen in the country in years.

After meeting with representatives of the street traders' association, Dakar Mayor Pape Diop suspended the measure, announced by President Abdoulaye Wade last week in an effort to reduce lengthy traffic jams choking the coastal capital and hampering business.

"We talked to the mayor and he allowed us to carry our activities till after New Year," said Cheikh Diop, president of the street vendors on Dakar's main Georges Pompidou avenue. "But (the mayor) said we should be careful not to slow down the traffic."
…

The disturbances were fueled by widespread popular discontent at rising prices and high unemployment, which forces many young men to risk their lives as illegal migrants to Europe.

Security forces are asking vendors not to set up their wooden stalls but sell only goods they can hold in their hands.

"If I had another job, I would not sell shirts and socks in the streets. This is the best I can do in this country. If they create jobs for us, we will stop selling in the streets," said Alioune Ngom, a 22-year-old vendor.

The riots capped off more bad news for Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, leaving at least one Dakar-based blogger to ask: What’s the end-game in Senegal?

With hoped for US millennium challenge account aid still not forthcoming for some reason, journalists being put in jail from time to time, the assembly empty of opposition following a boycott, Karim Wade, the president's son handling millions in Kuwait money for city renovation and construction ahead of a many times delayed summit of Islamic states, Senegalese youth continuing to flee to Europe by pirogue, meals getting harder to come by in poor areas, people still not finding work, while Dakar is getting a cleaner and cleaner look in some ways, yet more and more polluted in others, the only West African country "never to have had a coup" in typical journalistic parlance, may be in for some more action.

Finally, we recently discussed Senegal’s proposal and its affect on our friends in the informal sector.

Sitting on the dock: The case against Hissene Habré inches forward

A little forward progress took place in the case against Hissene Habré last week when Senegal finally claimed its courts could try the former Chadian dictator for mass murder and torture committed during his 1982-90 reign. The only is hitch is they’ll need a little money to do so.

The European Union has offered funds, and the two parties will meet soon to begin working out a financial deal. If the long awaited trial gets underway, it will mark the first time an African nation has tried someone for crimes committed in another nation.

The dictator fled to Senegal in 1990 when he was overthrown after eight bloody years in power, and pressure has been mounting for the past several years on Senegal to bring Habré to justice.

In September 2005, Belgium issued an international arrest warrant for the ex-dictator. Defense attorneys for Habré and some African nations bristled that a European nation, much less a former colonial power, would attempt to extradite and try an African for torture. A judge in Senegal claimed Senegalese courts could not rule on the extradition, and President Abdoulaye Wade asked the African Union to find a resolution. A panel of experts for the African Union recommended Habré face trial in one of the 45 African signatories to the International Convention Against Torture rather than a European body.

Pay-as-you-go justice
No doubt, the government of Senegal has largely proved to be a roadblock in this process. In my mind, though, the reluctance of a sitting president to allow jurisdiction of a former head of state is understandable. But barely so. Human rights now plays a stronger role in the international community; foreign governments are willing to pony up for expensive trials; judiciaries scattered around the globe are becoming more professional. These issues, along with the fact that the list of former dictators living elsewhere is growing, justice is finding a way to many of these “untouchables.”

Underlying this issue is the concept of universal jurisdiction. It is an idea that gained judicial footing with the 2002 introduction of the International Criminal Court and the international war crimes tribunals following the crimes against humanity in former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. At heart universal jurisdiction claims that courts in one country can prosecute people for crimes and human rights violations that took place in other countries. Two major arguments inspire this issue: The first claims that some crimes are so heinous they provide a threat to the international community. Secondly, behind much of the world’s savagery lies impunity, the fact that leaders or actors know they will never be judged, much less tried, for their offenses.

Supporters of universal jurisdiction claim that these crimes, such as the Holocaust and the Rwanda genocide, demand that perpetrators be held accountable for their actions – not only for the sake of their victims, but also for innocent people in the future when different leaders may think twice before committing such acts.

Victor’s Justice
In the past couple years, the world has seen at least three well-known former dictators brought to justice: Slobodan Milosovic, Saddam Huessein and Charles Taylor. (Taylor’s not there yet, but he’s most likely on his way.) The cases against these strongmen often devolve into little more than show-trials, their critics argue, produced for a world bent on revenge, not on justice. Backers of Charles Taylor like to point out that human rights organizations claimed that Saddam Hussein received an unfair trial before he was hanged in Iraq. Ditto for Slobodan Milosovic, before he took his own life.

Another complaint these critics raise is finances. In West Africa, a region where governments cannot find the funds to hire enough school teachers, people don’t miss the irony of rich nations allocating vast sums for the prosecution of a handful of African criminals. A story in New African points this out:

The UN Special Court in Sierra Leone began work nearly four years ago. It has since spent more than $80m. This is mostly as salary for its mainly expatriate staff, amounting to $16m a year – more than that for the entire Sierra Leonean civil service. In its first fully operational year, the Court had a budget of $34m, in its second $29.9m, and in the third $25.5m. But there was not much to show for this expenditure until 29 March 2006 when the former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, was finally handed over to the Court in handcuffs. You can, therefore, imagine the joy that descended on the fortified compound of the Court. At long last, the “biggest trophy” was under lock and key in Cell No. 3, and the Court could show its paymasters in Washington, London and elsewhere why it was important to pay $80m for all that trouble.

In the case of Habré, Chandra Lekha Sriram, a Human Rights scholar at the University of East London School of Law, argues that these competing interests must be balanced before full justice can be served. First, Africans must control the legal fate of African leaders; secondly, it is also important to assuage the guilt of former colonizers (i.e. Belgium who wants to atone for its bloody historical record); and finally, the requirements of international law stipulates that certain crimes of great magnitude be tried, no matter where they occurred.

During the years of Senegal’s intransigence, what worried Sriram was not the debate of an African trial versus a European Trial for Habré, but the prospect of a “trial elsewhere vs. no trial at all.”

Habré on the docket
It is safe to say that even if Habré is never brought to trial, the world will by no means miss his years in government. According to Human Rights Watch, the overview of his rule reads like this:

His one party regime was marked by widespread violations of human rights and mass campaigns of violence against his own people. On occasions he undertook persecutions by making collective arrests and committing mass murders against different ethnic groups, especially when he perceived their leaders to be a threat to his regime. This was particularly true of the Sara and other groups from the South (in 1984) the Hadjaraï (in 1987) and the Zaghawa (in 1989).The exact number of Habré’s victims remains unknown to this day. In 1992, a Commission of Enquiry of the Chadian Justice Ministry, set up by his successor, accused the Habré government of 40’000 politically motivated murders and systematic torture.

The New York-based human rights organization, which assisted in the investigation against Habré, claims to have documentation on the details of 97 political killings, 142 cases of torture, 100 “disappearances” and 736 arbitrary arrests. The group also brought up a report by a French medical team treating more than 580 torture victims.

Amnesty International also initiated a very thorough report regarding the crimes of the Habré government:

Throughout his eight years in power, the authority of Hissein Habré, who himself came to power by force, was challenged by armed opposition groups. However, this context of violent clashes cannot justify the widespread and continual serious human rights violations committed in particular by the Chadian armed forces, both during and after military operations, and by officers of the Direction de la Documentation et de la Sécurité (DDS).

The Chadian government applied a deliberate policy of terror in order to discourage opposition of any kind. Actual and suspected opponents and their families were victims of serious violations of their rights. Civilian populations were the victims of extrajudicial executions, committed in retaliation for armed opposition groups' actions on the basis of purely ethnic or geographical criteria. Thousands of people suspected of not supporting the government were arrested and held in secret by the DDS. Thousands of people died on DDS premises - killed by torture, by the inhuman conditions in which they were detained or by a lack of food or medical care. Captured combatants and unarmed civilians were extrajudicially executed. Some were shot, others burned alive or poisoned, and others tortured to death or killed by starvation. In the face of this, the international community, including western governments which supported the Habré administration, largely remained silent. Even more seriously, some governments, including those of the United States and France, financed the security forces, supplied arms, trained soldiers and actively collaborated with the intelligence services.

What of his brothers in arms?
One reason the case may be so strong against Habré is that teams have had more than 15 years to work on his prosecution. But what does the world do with other African dictators who have left office?

Mengistu Haile Mariam, the former dictator of Ethiopia, was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for genocide in January. Shortly after his overthrow in 1991, Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe where he has lived in semi-obscurity. The government of Zimbabwe has refused to cooperate with prosecutors in Ethiopia.

On a lighter note, the New Internationalist presented a mock prosecution against then-president of Kenya Daniel arap Moi.

But as this list of African dictators remaining in office shows, sometimes it may be best for those seeking justice to hold their noses and offer immunity to long-serving despots. As ethically shaky as they appear, immunity deals may be the only way to kick these dinosaurs out the door.

Prosecuting people for crimes against humanity is not only about serving justice and correcting the wrongs of the past. It is about providing a correct historical account of what happened. Immunity deals often help to bring out the truth. Think of South Africa’s flawed, but valuable, Truth and Reconciliation Commission which offered immunity so the new government – and new society – could create a record of Apartheid’s abuses.

Providing immunity – and the promise of a handsome retirement package – may not allow for victims to put together their shattered lives, but it does allow for a country to pick up the pieces, and with this knowledge, finally move on. Think about Guinea, which definitely needs a change at the top. Ditto for Gabon and Zimbabwe. Immunity deals are messy, but in these cases they are most likely necessary.

Even in countries like Burkina Faso, where longtime rulers may not descend to the depths of these despots, a direction to the future needs to be found. My guess is that after twenty years in power, the only way to provide a smooth transition out of office is to offer a few unpleasant promises. We can’t hope that the $5 million Mo Ibrahim Prize can solve everything, can we?

Senegal releases four journalists

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade ordered four journalists released from prison Friday while he was visiting France.

The president hoped the move would diffuse the increasing tension between the press and the Senegalese government, Reuters reported.

Wade’s decision was met with further calls of decriminalization of media infractions, which have become law in other West African states. Reuters says that Wade promised to make the reforms three years ago, but so far his government has not taken action.

All four of the journalists were imprisoned within the past month on a variety of charges relating to stories they wrote or published about the political situation in Senegal and the Wade government.

Authorities arrested Pape Amadou Gaye, publisher of the private daily Le Courrier du Jour, on Nov. 1 after publishing an article blaming the government for price increases in many staple goods. He also suggested the army could force a change in government policy.

In early October authorities arrested Moussa Gueye, editor of the daily L'Exclusif, and newspaper employee, Pape Moussa Doukar, after their paper ran an article about Wade's "nighttime escapades.”

A fourth publisher, El Malick Seck of rewmi.com, was detained on Wednesday by security services and charged for reprinting a story on his website about Wade’s acquisition of a Hoover limousine.

Homeward bound? Mauritanian refugees in Senegal may be going home

It began as a simple border dispute between two countries. It ended with the expatriation of 50,000 people, all of them black, all from Mauritania, a strangely multi-ethnic society split strictly along ethnic lines: 30 percent of the population is from Arabic (or Moorish) descent, 30 percent claim black-African descent and 40 percent make up a mix of the two.

The whole affair has been called Africa’s most protracted refugee crisis. It seems, however, it might be on the road to being solved.

The problems began on the boundary waters of the Senegal River, where villagers from both Mauritania and Senegal use the fertile lands to graze animals. Groups of black Mauritanians and Senegalese had long argued over the land and tensions were starting to rise during the spring of 1989. Fighting broke out after two Mauritanian border guards allegedly shot and killed two Senegalese herders. The two countries nearly went to war over the situation, and a peace deal was sought with both sides agreeing to expatriate villagers from the area in hopes of minimizing the tensions.

A purge by any other name
This decision allowed the Arab-controlled Mauritanian government of dictator Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya to begin what Human Rights Watch called a “systematic expulsion of thousands of black Mauritanian citizens to Senegal.”

Taya’s decision to exile the villagers wasn’t merely about maintaining peace, says Human Rights Watch. They, and other human rights organizations, have long claimed the Arab-dominated Mauritanian government used the conflict as an excuse to purge black-Mauritanians from the civil service and other parts of Mauritanian society. “The tension dates from the colonial era, when blacks who led a more settled life were able to take greater advantage of educational opportunities and thus dominated the administrative structure,” Human Rights Watch says in this report: “Since independence, political power has remained in the hands of Arab and Berber Mauritanians, called "beydanes," who have sought to purge blacks from major institutions and to effect the arabization of the country.”

Over the next 20 years, roughly half of the exiles returned home. The rest survived in refugee camps. They were joined in Senegal by another roughly 60,000 expatriates, mostly black Mauritanians, fleeing Taya’s harsh rule.

Taya was overthrown two years ago, and the new government, elected in March, called for the refugees to return home. A recent UNHCR survey counts 24,000 refugees living in 250 locations within Senegal hoping to return to nearly 50 communities in Mauritania, spread across four regions. (Mauritanian refugees also live in Mali, but the two countries have yet to meet to decide their fate.)

Because of “limited absorption capacity” and infrastructure problems of the Mauritanian communities, UNHCR says it will plan to repatriate only up to 7,000 refugees by the end of 2007. Others will return next year. The repatriation program will be responsible to attempt to improve the infrastructure and welfare of the communities receiving the refugees. Health and education sectors will be targeted for greater development as will programs to increase agriculture and animal husbandry incomes.

However, Reuters reports that some refugees claim they will not return home without compensation for lost jobs, land and houses. They have also called for trials against those responsible for the purges.

Not so fast
The biggest obstacle facing the returnees is land, says a human rights group that claims to represent some of the Mauritanians living in Senegalese camps. This point was underscored, the group says, by the recent arrest of six refugees who returned to Mauritania nine years ago. IRIN reported that the six were incarcerated stemming from a land dispute with villagers of Arab descent. The region’s governor disputed the land claim, saying they six were arrested for using axes and sticks to threaten the police officers called to mediate the situation.

A collective of human rights groups representing refugees pointed out that the governments of Mauritania and Senegal have not yet signed the agreement with UNHCR over the repatriation of the refugees. Until that happens, they would like to hold off on repatriation – even with pirogues waiting to transport refugees on the Senegal River and trucks ready on the Mauritanian side.

"We really do not want UNHCR and the Senegalese government to rush this repatriation without the reassurances that the return to Mauritania will meet all the conditions set out by refugee associations," including reparations and assurances of safety, a spokesman told IRIN.

Press freedom tour: Senegal, Niger

It’s been a somewhat quiet on the press front of West Africa this week. Unless, of course, you are Pape Amadou Gaye, a Senegalese journalist who was arrested for allegedly inciting the army into action against the country’s food crisis amid soaring prices.

In an article in Le Courrier du Jour, where Gaye is publishing director, he claimed that only the army could force the government to fix what it has done, alluding to the soaring food and fuel prices that have rocked Senegal in the past few weeks.

A government spokesman told Agence France Press that Mr. Gaye "has been charged and kept in custody for offending the head of state, acting in a way that risks the security of the state and acting in a manner aimed at inciting disobedience in the army."

Gaye’s November 1 apprehension marks the third arrest for journalists in Senegal over the past month. Moussa Guéye, editor of L’Exclusif, was arrested October 8 and charged with insulting the President Abdoulaye Wade. Shortly afterward, a reporter for L’Exclusif, Pape Moussa Doukar, was also arrested.

In good news, Daouda Yacouba, a correspondent for the Agadez, Niger-based Air Info, was released from prison after six days at police headquarters. He was originally arrested October 25 and questioned regarding articles involving the Niger government’s handling of the rebel Tuareg rebel group Niger People’s Movement for Justice.

However, Air Info’s editor, Ibrahim Manzo Diallo, was charged with “criminal association” and placed in pre-trial detention in Agadez prison.

Press freedom in West Africa?

One month, four journalists detained in West Africa.

On October 8, the government of democratic hot-shot Senegal had an editor abducted, beaten and jailed for insulting the president, according to Reporters Without Borders.

In Nigeria, members of the State Security Service beat and arrested an editor on October 10 for accusing the State Governor of “corruption,” the Paris-based press group says.

It’s already October 22 and journalist Moussa Kaka begins his second month in prison in Niger. The government claimed the journalist for Radio France Internationale was conspiring with Tuareg rebels. In other news: The government arrested Ibrahim Manzo Diallo, a independent bi-monthly in Agadez, on October 9. Diallo was boarding a plane to France in Niamey when he was arrested. Authorities interrogated him throughout the night and then transported him to Agadez, where a state of emergency is in force.

State of emergency
In August, the area of the northern Sahara saw an increase in Tuareg violence, which is due to the failed implementation of the 1995 peace agreements between the Governments of Mali and Niger and the Tuaregs. Complaints stem from underrepresentation for the Tuareg people in the respective capitals of Bamako and Niamey; and, severe economic hardship. At least one observer claims the violence also stems from Tuareg concerns over the sharing of resources, such as gold, oil and uranium. The governments of Niger and Mali claim the rebels are not representative of regular people, but groups linked drug smugglers and other criminal activities which profit from instability.

In Niger, the state of emergency powers allow the government to forbid the broadcasting of any stories on the situation in the north.