22 die in Togo poll violence

2005-04-27 22:29

Lome - At least 22 people have been killed, including eight Niger nationals, and more than 100 people hurt in clashes here the presidential poll, said Togolese officials on Wednesday.

Ruling party candidate Faure Gnassingbe was declared the winner of Togo's disputed poll.

Angry opposition supporters battled riot police for the second day running on Wednesday in the capital of the tiny west African country.

In Lome, interior minister Katari Foli-Bazi, citing accounts from local residents, said the charred bodies of eight Nigerois had been found after they were severely beaten by rioters.

The eight were killed in the port area in Lome's eastern Adakpame district, he said.

Witnesses said the Nigerois were killed because their country was seen as having sided with Faure Gnassingbe, the son of late president Gnassinbe Eyadema,

Accused of rigging vote

Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) monitors said on Wednesday they had endorsed the conduct of Togo's bitterly disputed presidential poll, despite noting some failures of organisation.

Togo's radical opposition has accused Faure Gnassingbe of rigging the vote and refused to recognise his apparent victory. The regional poll observers, however, disagreed.

"The observers noted the anomalies and inadequacies as well as the reported incidents... are not of a nature that could cast doubt to good conduct and credibility of the presidential poll," said an Ecowas report.

Gnassingbe, whose comfortable victory was announced on Tuesday by the independent electoral commission but has yet to be confirmed by the constitutional court, has pleaded for calm in the west African country and called for a national unity government.

Opposition candidate Emmanuel Akitani-Bob told journalists he was the real head of state, promising a "long struggle" and calling on his supporters to "stay mobilised".

Togo has been in political turmoil since the February 5 death of Gnassingbe Eyadema, Faure Gnassingbe's father, who ran the country with the Togolese People's Rally (RPT) and army commanders from his northern stronghold for more than 37 years.

- AFP