SENEGALESE President Abdoulaye Wade has told Chad’s former dictator Hissene Habre to leave Senegal, a month after a court here refused to try the ex-ruler on charges of torture and murder during his eight years in power. Habre, who fled to Senegal after being toppled in 1990, is accused by human rights groups of being behind the execution of some 40 000 people and the torture of 200 000 others during his brutal reign. “I have given him notice to leave Senegal,” Wade told BBC radio and Senegal’s Sud FM on Saturday. When pressed on the issue, Wade said he had given Habre a 30-day notice to leave Dakar. But the Senegalese president would not say when the notice would take effect. Lawyer Sidiki Kaba of Senegal, who heads the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), nevertheless hailed the decision. “It is a strong message to all heads of state who subscribe to crimes and murder: they are not untouchable, and justice will follow them,” he told AFP. Fifty-eight-year-old Habre was dubbed the “African Pinochet,” a reference to the former Chilean head of state who was at the time detained in Brtiain, and facing possible extradition to Spain. – AFP