Senegal: Hissène Habré Court Opens
Posted On July 7, 2013
The Xaverian Missionaries arrived in Chad in 1982. Our goal is first evangelization, mission awareness, vocation promotion and formation.The territory of Chad is quite vast, but the greater part of its lands is covered by the Sahara Desert. The first attempts at evangelization in Chad date from the 17th century with a Capuchin and a Jesuit Missionary, but it was only in 1929 that the Holy Ghost Missionaries established a permanent mission station. Missionary work is intense, demanding, but it is also fruitful.
We work in the southern diocese of Pala on the formation of Basic Christian Communities, formation in Christian initiation or Catechumenate, formation of pastoral agents. A priority attention is given to the formation of catechists and leaders of the various communities, for it is through them that the message of the Gospel will take root.
Hissene Habre is the former dictator from the country of Chad, Africa. The inauguration of a special court in Senegal marks a turning point in the long campaign to bring to justice the former dictator of Chad Hissène Habré, a coalition of human rights groups said today.
Habré is accused of thousands of political killings and systematic torture during his presidency, from 1982 to 1990. He has been living in exile in Senegal for more than 22 years.
“I have been waiting for this day for 22 years,” said Souleymane Guengueng, who nearly died during almost three years of mistreatment in Habré’s prisons, and later founded the Association of Victims of Crimes of the Regime of Hissène Habré (AVCRHH). “I want to see Habré in court before even more victims die.”
