Amsterdam - The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Thursday accepted the assurances of Senegal that it would monitor former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre in its jurisdiction. The ICJ in a unanimous decision said Senegal's promises to monitor and guard Habre, who is wanted for crimes of torture and crimes against humanity, were sufficient.
On February 20, Belgium had asked the ICJ to impose so-called provisional measures on Senegal to force the West African state to prevent Habre from leaving its territory.
The request came amid an application brought by Belgium in the ICJ to compel Senegal to prosecute or extradite him. Belgium's legal system allows it to prosecute serious crimes committed abroad.
The ICJ on Thursday ruled that special provisional measures would not be necessary.
In its application to the ICJ, Belgium is demanding that the Senegal extradites Habre for trial in Belgium, or that Senegal puts the former dictator on trial in Dakar.
Belgium maintains that Senegal has so far failed to extradite Habre, a warrant for whose arrest Belgium issued in 2005, five years after he was indicted in Dakar. He was ultimately placed under house arrest.
Habre first came to power in Chad in June 1982 and was initially praised by the West for fighting the Libyan regime of Moammer Gaddafi. However, human rights organizations later accused him of alleged responsibility in the killing of thousands of people.
Habre has been living in exile in Senegal since December 1990, after he was ousted by Chad's then Libya-backed rebel leader Idriss Deby, now the president of Chad.
On August 15, 2008 a court in the Chadian capital N'Djamena tried and sentenced Habre to death in absentia.
The ICJ is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations.
