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> Togo rivals pledge unity govt as clashes continue. 26/04/2005. ABC News Online
> [This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200504/s1353138.htm]
> Last Update: Tuesday, April 26, 2005. 6:17am (AEST)

> # Togo rivals pledge unity govt as clashes continue

> Rival sides in Togo's violence-scarred presidential election pledged to form a national unity government whatever the result, as gangs of opposition supporters clashed with troops in the capital.

> At least three people were killed when violence erupted in the small west African state during Sunday's polls and parties traded accusations of intimidation and fraud.

> But rival Togolese leaders found a possible way out of the crisis at a meeting with Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo, the chairman of the African Union, when they pledged to form a broad-based transitional regime.

> Tension had been mounting in Togo since February 5, when veteran autocrat President Gnassingbe Eyadema died following 38 years in power.

> The army initially attempted to install his 39-year-old son Faure Gnassingbe as his successor, but regional leaders insisted that elections be held.

> Mr Gnassingbe eventually stood in the poll as a the ruling party candidate, and was invited to the Nigerian capital Abuja as the expected winner of the vote even as rioting continued in Lome.

> "I would like to tell you that inside Togo we've had difficult times, and what I want is to work with everybody ... that is why we are agreeing to a national government, a broad-based government," he told reporters.

> He was joined in Abuja by Gilchrist Olympio - a political exile whose opposition Union of Forces for Change was represented in the presidential race by Emmanuel Akitani Bob, who agreed to work with the transitional regime.

> "I invited Gil and Faure before the final result of the election that took place yesterday so that we can we chart a way forward," Mr Obasanjo said, flanked by his two Togolese guests.

> Meanwhile, in Togo at least 10 people were injured, three with gunshot wounds and two apparently by stun grenades, at Akodessewa in the working-class Be district of the capital, an opposition stronghold, medical sources told AFP.

> The national electoral commission said that the count was complete, but that just 14 percent of the votes had been centralised on Monday morning.

> Former colonial power France said it "notes with satisfaction that Togo's presidential election took place in satisfactory conditions, even if we've had to take account of isolated incidents."

> - AFP

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