Togo's troubles still not over
2005-04-19 12:16
Lome - An opposition leader in Togo called for the deployment of an international peacekeeping force in the country to prevent new political violence ahead of presidential elections, following clashes that left dozens injured at the weekend.
"The international community must look seriously at the case of Togo," Jean-Pierre Fabre, secretary general of the main opposition party, the Union of Forces for Change (UFC), said on Monday.
"It must deploy some kind of international force to prevent the authorities from massacring the population."
The opposition coalition, of which the UFC is a member, has said one of its activists, an 18-year-old student, was shot and killed and dozens more were seriously injured in the violence which erupted on Saturday.
The coalition has called for an inquiry and accused "militias" of the ruling Togolese People's Rally (RPT) "armed with machetes, studded cudgels and guns" of attacking its supporters before and after a meeting on Saturday.
The RPT and the government have in turn accused the opposition of attacking their supporters.
Interior Minister Francois Akila Esso Boko has said around 50 people were injured in the unrest.
The violence has sparked concerns from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), which is to bring together the four election candidates for talks in the Niger capital Niamey, and gather representatives of all the parties in Lome in an attempt to end the crisis.
The United States State Department on Monday also called on the Togolese government to conduct a credible election on April 24, noting "disturbing instances of violence."
The polls could "promote peaceful national reconciliation in Togo, but only if it is conducted in a free and fair manner," said department spokesman Richard Boucher.
Violence and tension in the small West African country have mounted since the death on February 5 of then head of state Gnassingbe Eyadema, an autocratic ruler who had been in power since 1967.
Eyadema was considered by his domestic opposition as an electoral cheat but still recognised as the doyen of African presidents.
The army and ruling party moved swiftly to have one of his sons, financier Faure Gnassingbe, made president by changing the constitution, but backed down weeks later under international pressure and opened the way to Sunday's polls.
Gilchrist Olympio, the leader of the UFC, returned to Togo on Saturday from Paris where he has been living in exile.
He is the son of Togo's first president, Sylvanus Olympio, who was assassinated in a 1963 coup. Four years later, Eyadema came to power after launching his own coup d'etat.
Olympio came to Lome to campaign for the opposition coalition's joint candidate Emmanuel Akitani Bob, considered Gnassingbe's most serious challenger of the three candidates opposing him for the presidency.