{{Chad\u2019s President Idriss Deby Itno has expressed willingness to testify in the trial of ex-president Hissene Habr\u00e9, to \u201cclear the air\u201d over his alleged connivance with the former dictator.}}<\/p>\n
In the past, the president has denied allegations that he stood by the former dictator until his last days.<\/p>\n
Shortly before his arrest and detention in Dakar, the former leader said he hoped that \u201cothers who had also committed crimes against the Chadian people could be brought to book\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not afraid to face the court and prove my innocence,\u201d the current Chadian leader said.<\/p>\n
The president described Habr\u00e9 as \u201ca monster whom I resisted and fought hard to overthrow in order to save my own life and the nation.”<\/p>\n
He lauded the efforts made by the international community and Senegal in particular to bring his predecessor to trial saying he was ready to testify against him.<\/p>\n
\u201cChadians will never forget him and his trial was in place to serve as a deterrence,\u201d said the leader, adding, \u201cwe do not want any other Habr\u00e9 in Chad\u201d.<\/p>\n
If his wish is granted, President Deby will join 1,015 people identified by a special court in Dakar to testify against the imprisoned former Chadian dictator.<\/p>\n
The special court, set up under the aegis of the African Union and the international community on July 2, 1013, charged the former leader with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.<\/p>\n
Habr\u00e9 is alleged to have caused the deaths of about 40,000 of his own countrymen between 1982 and 1990 when he was toppled by a military junta headed by the incumbent Chadian president.<\/p>\n
The former leader, who is being held in remand in special confinement in Dakar, could be sentenced to a life term if found guilty.<\/p>\n
NMG<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{{Chad\u2019s President Idriss Deby Itno has expressed willingness to testify in the trial of ex-president Hissene Habr\u00e9, to \u201cclear the air\u201d over his alleged connivance with the former dictator.}} In the past, the president has denied allegations that he stood by the former dictator until his last days. Shortly before his arrest and detention in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[100],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-9686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-africa","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9686\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9686"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=9686"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=9686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}