Arresting Habré

This chapter addresses the role of Marcel Mendy, head of Communications for the Extraordinary African Chambers (EAC), and his office during Hissène Habré's arrest, the most politically sensitive moment of the process. At the EAC, Mendy's unit reported on the activities of the EAC, represented the EAC as spokesperson, and organized media events for the prosecutor. A central task of the unit was to organize media coverage of the Habré trial by the national and international press through accreditation and streaming the trial on the EAC's website. Mendy's unit was also in charge of keeping Habré's arrest confidential until the operation occurred. On the basis of information obtained from investigation reports established in both Brussels and N'Djamena about detention centres and suspected locations of mass graves, Prosecutor M'Backé Fall decided to proceed with the arrest of Hissène Habré a few days after his return from a mission in Chad. Information had to be locked down to keep the opposing camp from being alerted. Indeed, the public only learned of the arrest the following day.

Quantification of the binding preference of selected dyes at a solid-liquid interface in organized media

The binding behavior of anionic dyes, acid yellow 17 and acid blue 25, at an activated carbon?liquid interface has been investigated in organized media based on aqueous sodium dodecyl sulfate using differential electronic spectroscopy. The quantification of interactions occurring in the system was realized using a simple physical model, emphasizing the displacement of bound dyes from the carbon surface. The quantities of displaced dyes were comparable; however, acid blue 25 was relatively easily desorbed compared to acid yellow 17. These differences can be attributed to differences in the dye size and hydrophobicity. The model is valid for the premicellar region of the surfactant. The results throw light on some characteristics of solid?liquid interfaces.