The remains of former Chadian President Hissène Habré buried in Dakar
The relatives of Hissène Habré gathered in front of her remains on August 26, 2021 during her funeral in Dakar.
AFP - JOHN WESSELS
Text by: RFI Follow
6 mins
Two days after his death from Covid-19, Hissène Habré was buried this Thursday, August 26, 2021 in the early afternoon in Dakar.
The former Chadian head of state had lived in Senegal for 31 years, after being overthrown by Idriss Déby.
It was here that he was sentenced to life in 2016 for crimes against humanity committed during his reign.
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The ceremony will have been discreet, sober and solemn.
After the 2 p.m. prayer, about 200 people came out of the Omarian mosque located by the sea on the western corniche of Dakar.
The coffin of the former Chadian dictator, covered with an Islamic fabric, was then taken out of the ambulance on the forecourt of the mosque under construction during the time of the funeral prayer, explains our correspondent in Dakar,
Théa Ollivier
.
► In the spotlight: The death of Hissène Habré in the African press
Were present the family of Hissène Habré, Chadian and Senegalese relatives and sympathizers, his lawyers and some personalities such as parliamentarians or the former Senegalese Prime Minister Abdoul Mbaye.
No current official representative of Senegal, no minister, however, came.
Then the body of the deceased was taken to the Muslim cemetery of Yoff, a district of Dakar, where the former Cameroonian president Ahmadou Ahidjo is also buried since 1989. New prayers were made before the former Chadian head of state be buried in the privacy of those close to them.
As tradition dictates, no woman was present.
It was nevertheless at the request of one of Hissène Habré's wives that the latter was buried in Senegal, pending, one day perhaps, his rehabilitation in Chad.
Relatives of former Chadian President Hissène Habré gathered for his funeral in Dakar, August 26, 2021. AFP - JOHN WESSELS
At the exit, his son Hamid Hissène Habré paid tribute to him in a declaration, recalling his father's commitment to an Africa "
free, dignified, united and proud
".
"
Our duty is to rehabilitate him and do him justice
", he assured.
He spoke of a “
loving father
”, and attacked what he described as “
injustice
”: his conviction by an African court.
"
Rest in peace, dear father, you deserve it so much
", he concluded.
►Read again: The reactions in Chad after the death of Hissène Habré
In Chad, if the government had given its agreement for the repatriation of his remains, the country had refused to pay him an official tribute precisely because of “
his condemnations and out of respect for his victims
”.
Hissène Habré, who ruled Chad between 1982 and 1990, the date of his fall,
died
of Covid-19 at the age of 79 in Senegal, where he was sentenced to life in prison in 2016 by a special court established in cooperation with the African Union, for crimes against humanity, rape, executions, slavery and kidnapping.
He was arrested in his host country in 2013.
In the eyes of one of the lawyers of the ex-dictator, the Senegalese Ciré Clédor Ly, present at the ceremony, his former client was "the
victim of a great swindle, the biggest legal swindle (to which) the humanity has never had to face
”.
According to him, history will remember his fight "
against imperialism
".
►Also listen: "Hissène Habré was both dictator and liberator of Chad"
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Senegal
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Hissène Habré