Three die in tense Togo polls
2005-04-25 11:05
Lome - At least three people were killed and 20 others injured in Togo as voting ended in tense presidential elections.
Late on Sunday tensions ran high in areas of the tiny western African state's capital, where opposition supporters wielding machetes and clubs had erected barricades to protest alleged irregularities. Witnesses also said that police opened fire in four districts.
The violence came after voters in Togo turned out in force on Sunday to elect a successor to Gnassingbe Eyadema, hardline ruler for 38 years, with both opposition and the ruling parties trading accusations of "massive fraud".
Voters had a choice essentially between Faure Gnassingbe, the 39-year-old son of the late leader, and his main challenger Emmanuel Akitani Bob, 74, who represents a radical opposition coalition led by Gilchrist Olympio's Union of Forces for Change (UFC).
A Western diplomat said he "saw three bodies in the district between John Paul II boulevard and the airport near the Hedzranawoe primary school".
"They were the bodies of young men," he added.
Tensions rose as both sides accused each other of rigging the ballot boxes, after a campaign marked by violence.
The special envoy of regional grouping the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), which stepped in to force new elections after Eyadema's death and a failed attempt to install his son in power, said it was "too soon" for its monitors to rule whether there had been irregularities.
"I am satisfied that the presidential elections were held," the envoy Boukar Mai Manga told a news conference. "At the start of our mission no-one would have believed there would be vote on April 24."
Late on Sunday witnesses at the site of the three deaths said the youths who had been killed had fought off attempts by unidentified men to take away the ballot boxes from the school.
At a hospital in Lome's opposition stronghold of Be, a doctor said 13 people were injured in the violence. Four of them were seriously hurt and taken to another hospital.
The injured said they had been wounded by army gunfire as troops tried to carry away ballot boxes from some polling stations.
These reports could not immediately be confirmed by other sources.
A police officer said that troops fired shots in four capital districts, including Be.
Main opposition figure Gilchrist Olympio, the son of Togo's assassinated first president, lives in exile in Paris and was barred from standing in the election by a clause in the constitution inserted to exclude non-residents from office.
The other opposition candidate who stood, given little chance of winning, was Olympio's cousin, Harry Olympio.
On Saturday the third opposition candidate, businessman Nicolas Lawson, dropped out of the race, complaining of irregularities in the election.
Gnassingbe was relaxed mood after casting his ballot.
"We have already won the first battle - the election is taking place," he said.