2006年VOA标准英语-Activists Wait for Justice in War Crimes Case o

By Phuong Tran
Dakar
20 November 2006

Prosecutors who want Chad's exiled former ruler, Hissène Habré, to face charges of crimes against humanity say they are facing obstacles despite a pledge by the Senegalese government to organize a fair trial.

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Abdourahmane Gueye, left, seen at court in Dakar, Nov. 25, 2005

Nothing appears extraordinary about 60-year-old Abdourahmane Gueye's schedule. He returns home for lunch on this day with his family, as he does every day.

"Have you tasted a traditional Senegalese rice dish before," Mr. Gueye asks, explaining that the family will now eat together. They gather around a large silver bowl filled with yasa, the Wolof name for a thick tomato curry¹ rice dish cooked with caramelized onions.

After lunch, Gueye and his younger brother watch news coverage² of France's upcoming presidential elections.

But in the evening, his meeting with a group of international human rights lawyers reveals a more complicated agenda.

In his own words, Gueye's goal is to see former Chad leader Hissène Habré brought to justice. He says that from morning to night, this is his mission. He is anxious to hold Habré accountable for his own six-month imprisonment³ in the "Piscine," a swimming pool converted to a notorious detention⁴ center in Chad's capitol, N'Djamena.

He says he had done nothing wrong. He says he was arrested after trying to enter Chad with jewels he was intending to sell to the French military.

Mr. Habré ruled Chad from 1982 to 1990, when the current president of Chad, Idriss Déby, overthrew⁵ him, forcing him to flee to neighboring Senegal. Since his overthrow⁶, Mr. Habré has been indicted⁷ of crimes against humanity by courts in several countries, but never brought to trial. His accusers say that he is responsible for more than 40,000 deaths, and thousands more disappearances⁸.

When efforts to bring him to trial in Senegal stalled in 2000, the prosecution⁹ tried to introduce the case in Belgian courts, due to the nationality of some of the alleged¹⁰ victims. Belgium issued an international arrest warrant for Mr. Habre in 2005. In response, the African Union issued a mandate¹¹ to keep the case in Africa and to try Mr. Habré in Senegal, where he has political asylum¹².

The Senegalese government announced earlier this month that it will seek funds and international support to convene¹³ a commission to prepare the trial.

This announcement has been met with both relief and skepticism by members of the prosecution team, including Secretary General of RADDHO, a Senegalese human rights organization, Alioune Tine.

"What we hope for is concrete action and not only an announcement," he said. "We are waiting for the real commitment, real actions, very urgent actions."

The Chadian Association for the Promotion¹⁴ and Defense¹⁵ of Human Rights is the organization that reached out to international and regional human rights groups to help it file the original criminal complaint in Senegal in 2000. Its president, lawyer Jacqueline Moude?na, is also impatient for the case to move forward.

"The case has been held up long enough," she says. "As Habré's accusers die, or become ill it is becoming even more urgent for the Senegalese government to act on its responsibility to try the case quickly."

Also waiting for his day in court is Mr. Habré, who has been living in exile for 16 years since his overthrow in 1990. He lives with his family in the suburbs of Dakar. Speaking on his behalf is one of his three defense lawyers, Mr. Mamadou Lo.

"Mr. Habré's lawyer says that the crimes for which his client is accused are still happening in Chad, a country that remains¹⁶ in conflict," he says. "Mr. Habré cannot be held personally responsible for crimes against humanity when the crimes were begotten¹⁷ by war, in a country where, Lo says, the citizens continue to suffer repression¹⁸."

He also says that his client, Mr. Habré cannot be held responsible for the actions of those who worked for him.

An inquiry¹⁹ by Amnesty International, a London-based human rights organization, reported that leaders of the security forces during Mr. Habré's regime, including current President Idriss Déby, were themselves accused of carrying out torture, and that the culture of impunity²⁰ continues in Chad.

The prosecution says that several conditions will need to be in place for the Hissène Habré case to move forward. First, Senegal's domestic law concerning torture must be changed to be in line with the U.N. Convention Against Torture, which Senegal has ratified²¹. A draft of the law is currently awaiting passage in Senegal's parliament.

Second, Senegal will need funds and support to be able to organize and carry out the trial in Dakar. Senegal will need to convene the commission, which will need to determine how to organize a fair trial.

Finally, they say, there must be the political will to move this case forward, which skeptics feel may be in short supply from the Senegalese government during an election period.

Meanwhile, Gueye, the Senegalese who was once jailed in Chad, waits to see Mr. Habré in court.

For Gueye, justice would be for Mr. Habré to present himself in a court of law before the victims and their families. Gueye says that if the accusations²² are false, then Mr. Habré will win. If the accusations are proven true, he says, then he and the families who have waited years for this case to come to trial will be the winners.

1 curry   

n.咖哩粉，咖哩饭菜；v.用咖哩粉调味，用马栉梳，制革

参考例句：

• Rice makes an excellent complement to a curry dish.有咖喱的菜配米饭最棒。
• Add a teaspoonful of curry powder.加一茶匙咖喱粉。

2 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

3 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

4 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

5 overthrew   

overthrow的过去式

参考例句：

• The people finally rose up and overthrew the reactionary regime. 人们终于起来把反动的政权推翻了。
• They overthrew their King. 他们推翻了国王。

6 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

7 indicted   

控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The senator was indicted for murder. 那位参议员被控犯谋杀罪。
• He was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder. 他被大陪审团以两项谋杀罪名起诉。

8 disappearances   

n.消失( disappearance的名词复数 )；丢失；失踪；失踪案

参考例句：

• Most disappearances are the result of the terrorist activity. 大多数的失踪案都是恐怖分子造成的。 来自辞典例句
• The espionage, the betrayals, the arrests, the tortures, the executions, the disappearances will never cease. 间谍活动、叛党卖国、逮捕拷打、处决灭迹，这种事情永远不会完。 来自英汉文学

9 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

10 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

11 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

12 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

13 convene   

v.集合，召集，召唤，聚集，集合

参考例句：

• The Diet will convene at 3p.m. tomorrow.国会将于明天下午三点钟开会。
• Senior officials convened in October 1991 in London.1991年10月，高级官员在伦敦会齐。

14 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

15 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

16 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

17 begotten   

v.为…之生父( beget的过去分词 )；产生，引起

参考例句：

• The fact that he had begotten a child made him vain. 想起自己也生过孩子，他得意了。 来自辞典例句
• In due course she bore the son begotten on her by Thyestes. 过了一定的时候，她生下了堤厄斯式斯使她怀上的儿子。 来自辞典例句

18 repression   

n.镇压，抑制，抑压

参考例句：

• The repression of your true feelings is harmful to your health.压抑你的真实感情有害健康。
• This touched off a new storm against violent repression.这引起了反对暴力镇压的新风暴。

19 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

20 impunity   

n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除

参考例句：

• You will not escape with impunity.你不可能逃脱惩罚。
• The impunity what compulsory insurance sets does not include escapement.交强险规定的免责范围不包括逃逸。

21 ratified   

v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The treaty was declared invalid because it had not been ratified. 条约没有得到批准，因此被宣布无效。
• The treaty was ratified by all the member states. 这个条约得到了所有成员国的批准。

22 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。