Two killed in Togo clashes
2005-02-12 17:19
Lome - Two protesters were killed Saturday and two policemen badly hurt in an opposition demonstration on Saturday against the assumption of power by the son of Togo's late ruler Gnassingbe Eyadema, Interior Minister Francois Akila Esso Boko said.
At the same time, a government delegation headed to Niamey to answer a summons by regional leaders to justify the move to put Faure Gnassingbe in power or face immediate sanctions against the West African country.
But the 39-year-old leader was not in the party headed by Prime Minister Koffi Sama, despite the invitation by five presidents from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) to appear in person in the Niger capital.
Around midday clashes were still going on across the Be district, an opposition stronghold, between demonstrators and police and paramilitary gendarmes backed by troops.
Thick smoke also rose from the direction of the airport, where Boko said demonstrators had set fire to a nearby factory.
"There were two dead," Boko told reporters by telephone, adding that the police had fired in self-defence.
"A group of gendarmes was surrounded by demonstrations in Be-Kpota district, they were going to be lynched," Boko said. "To escape, they fired warning shots that unfortunately hit two people, two demonstrators who were killed."
Two gendarmes were seriously wounded and were taken to hospital in Lome, Boko said, adding, "Those are the only details we have at the moment."
Police also fired tear gas to disperse the three thousand demonstrators who had answered a call by six opposition parties for a protest march in the Be neighbourhood, in defiance of a government ban.
The marchers had blocked traffic along a main boulevard, throwing stones and other objects at the police, but were pressed back by the teargas and took refuge in side streets, where they tried to erect makeshift barricades of trees, vehicles and burning tyres.
"Togo is not a kingdom" and "38 years of Eyadema is enough," they yelled.
The rally was the biggest since Gnassingbe was sworn in as president on February 7 following the death of Eyadema.
It came the day after the leaders of Ecowas, which includes Togo, gave Gnassingbe 24 hours to meet to discuss restoring constitutional rule or face immediate sanctions.
The leaders had planned to go to Lome to deliver the message in person, but cancelled the trip after Gnassingbe tried to switch the venue to one of his northern strongholds, Kara.
The Togolese officials arrived in Niamey on Saturday, and were to meet Niger's President Mamadou Tandja, the current chairman of Ecowas.
Following a crisis summit on Tuesday in Niamey some Ecowas officials talked about placing a travel ban on Togolese officials and even throwing the country out of the 15-nation grouping.
Officials said that they expected the United Nations to follow Africa's lead if sanctions proved necessary.