Clashes in Togo
2005-04-08 13:57
Lome - Police in Togo on Friday used teargas to break up a demonstration by thousands of members of the opposition on the first day of a election campaign in the small West African country.
Clashes broke out in central Lome when members mainly of the opposition Union of Forces for Change (UFC) marched on the city hall to demand voters' cards for the presidential election, slated by the authorities for April 24.
On Wednesday, violence broke out on the fringes of rival rallies by the UFC and the running Togolese People's Rally (RPT). Supporters of the former wanted a delay in the election to give the opposition time to prepare, while the party in power pressed for the poll to be held as planned.
The campaign that officially started on Friday is for the election of a head of state to succeed Africa's longest-ruling president, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who died on February 5, leading to a political crisis when the army and the RPT moved swiftly to hoist his son, Faure Gnassinge, into the top job.
Under strong African and international pressure, Gnassingbe stood down and arrangements were made to hold the election on April 24, in which he will be facing three other candidates.
Late on Thursday, Interior Minister Francois Akila Esso Boko announced that "exceptional measures" to distribute voters' cards would take place in Lome on Saturday and Sunday to benefit people who had been unable to register on the official rolls.
After police moved in to disperse the mainly UFC crowds on Friday, the demonstrators withdrew to the working-class districts of Be and Dekon, which are traditional opposition strongholds.