Brussels, 08/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - In a letter sent to Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel and Justice Minister Marc Verwilghen, Human Rights Watch welcomes "Belgium's commitment to international justice" and asks the Belgian Government "not to weaken in the just fight you are waging". "Your country is playing a pioneering role", the letter continues, especially mentioning the Belgian law of universal competence that allows the perpetrators of crimes of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity wherever the crime has been committed, the nationality or place of residence of suspects or victims of crime to be prosecuted in Belgium. This letter comes just after a ruling by the International Court of Justice disputing the issue of an arrest warrant against a foreign minister in office (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.7), and comes within the context of the investigative judge, Daniel Fransen and prosecutor Philippe Meire having gone to Chad, from 26 February to 7 March, to investigate crimes committed under the Hissene Habre regime in the framework of an international criminal investigation. In February 2000, Mr. Habre, exiled in Dakar, was indicted for torture and crimes against humanity, and placed under house arrest by a Senegalese court. In March 2001, however, the Senegalese Court of Appeal noted that the country had no legal instrument enabling it to continue the criminal prosecution. Senegal's President, Abdoulaye Wade, recently acquiesced to the request by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to keep Mr. Habre in Senegal while awaiting the request for extradition by a country such as Belgium, capable of organising a fair trial.