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Togo Agrees to Hold Presidential Polls in 60 Days
Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:00 PM ET
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By John Zodzi LOME (Reuters) - Togo will hold presidential elections within 60 days, agreeing to demands from African leaders to defuse a crisis that sparked violent protests and international outrage, a government official said on Tuesday. World leaders had threatened sanctions after Togo's powerful army named Faure Gnassingbe president hours after his father Gnassingbe Eyadema died on February 5. The appointment violated the constitution, which was hastily amended. Togo's neighbors in West Africa, a region anxious for stability after years of wars and uprisings, called the succession a coup and demanded elections as laid down in the original constitution. The pledge to hold presidential elections was made after diplomats from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) met Gnassingbe on Tuesday to press demands that the 39-year-old civilian reverse the succession. "ECOWAS wanted us to return to the old constitution and that is what we are going to do, and in 60 days elections will be organized in this country," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official said he expected an announcement on Wednesday about elections. POWER VACUUM The army justified Gnassingbe's appointment by saying it could not risk a power vacuum. Eyadema, a former soldier and wrestling champion, seized power in a coup in 1967 and ruled for 38 years, becoming Africa's longest-serving leader. Gnassingbe's appointment triggered riots in Togo's capital Lome. Four demonstrators were killed in two days during clashes with police in an opposition stronghold. Under the original constitution, the head of the national assembly, Fambare Ouattara Natchaba, was Eyadema's legal successor, pending polls in the former French colony. It was not immediately clear if Gnassingbe would stand down before the vote.
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