Togo rivals reach agreement
2006-08-19 12:49
Ouagadougou - The government of Togo and the opposition on Friday reached an accord aimed at ending the country's political crisis, foreign minister Youssouf Ouedraogo told AFP.
"The document was initialled by all the delegations," Ouedraogo said.
The agreement, meant to lead to the forming of a new government and the organising of legislative elections by October 2007, will be officially signed on Sunday during a ceremony in Lome, he said.
The two sides had resumed discussions on Thursday on the draft accord which should also attract much-needed European Union aid withdrawn earlier.
The talks are taking place in neighbouring Burkina Faso under the mediation of Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore.
Compaore had on Wednesday submitted to the various delegations the draft document which envisages recomposing the independent national electoral commission (CENI) and the formation of a "national unity" government.
The inter-party talks re-opened on April 21 after a long break following the death of Togo's veteran leader Gnassingbe Eyadema early last year.
But they were suspended last month following disagreements on the composition of the independent national electoral commission and issues regarding eligibility for the state presidency and military reforms.
The two political sides on July 26 appointed Compaore to broker talks between them.
An agreement in the negotiations will allow Togo to resume its cooperation with the European Union which was cut off in 1993 due to a lack of democratic elections.
Earlier on Friday the talks had heated up over the composition of the country's future electoral commission and eligibility for the presidency.