Hissène Habré, the former president of Chad, has been charged with crimes against humanity and torture by an investigating judge in Belgium, and an international warrant issued for his arrest, it was revealed yesterday.

The groundbreaking legal move is the culmination of a long campaign by human rights groups and individuals who claim to have been victims of the Chadian dictator's regime. The indictment has been issued under Belgium's controversial "universal jurisdiction" law, which was designed to allow for the prosecution of crimes against humanity, regardless of where they occurred.