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Back to Home > Business > 60-second Business Break > | Thursday, Apr 28, 2005
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| Posted on Thu, Apr. 28, 2005
# Togo opposition leader urges supporters to fight on as clashes leave at least six dead By Bryan Mealer ASSOCIATED PRESS LOME, Togo - Togolese lobbed stones and Molotov cocktails for a second day Wednesday after the son of their late dictator was declared the winner of disputed presidential elections. Six people died and at least 100 were injured in the violence. Opposition leaders alleged widespread fraud in Sunday's vote in the West African nation and called for supporters to continue their defiance. Bob Akitani, the main opposition candidate, said the opposition's own ballot count put him ahead of Faure Gnassingbe, the dictator's son who had been declared the winner a day earlier. "Togolese, your president is speaking to you. Because we didn't lose the presidential elections," Akitani said in a statement. "At the expense of our lives, we must be opposed to people who think they have divine order to govern this country. The struggle will be long, but victory will be ours . . . resist, until the final victory." The West African bloc that has worked to defuse the presidential succession crisis, which began after the Feb. 5 death of dictator Gnassingbe Eyadema, criticized Akitani's declaration and urged formation of a power-sharing government. The United States joined the West African regional bloc in calling for a national reconciliation government "to heal the political divisions in Togo created by this election process and to focus on constitutional reform" to ensure credible elections in the future. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the legitimacy of Sunday's elections "fell short of the aspirations of both the Togolese people and the expectations of Togo's friends in the international community." Clashes pitting riot police against opposition supporters began Tuesday after electoral commission Chairwoman Kissem Tchangai Walla announced that Gnassingbe had won 1.3 million votes, or 60 percent, while Akitani got 841,000, or 38 percent. The military installed Gnassingbe as president shortly after his father -- whose 38 years in power had made him Africa's longest-ruling dictator -- died of a heart attack. Amid international pressure, the 39-year-old son agreed to an election, but the balloting was marred by violence and allegations of vote-tampering. Young men rampaged across the capital after the results were announced, setting stacks of tires ablaze. Protesters used machetes and nail-studded clubs to battle police and soldiers, while security forces responded with tear gas and concussion grenades. Much of Togo's capital was calm but tense Wednesday, with shops closed, streets deserted and fearful residents staying home. Violence persisted around the opposition stronghold of Be, a Lome neighborhood that has become a front line between soldiers and howling mobs who pelted riot police and soldiers with Molotov cocktails. Groups of boys fired volleys of rocks with slingshots and soldiers responded with tear gas and stun grenades. Collette Asagba found herself in the tear gas filled no-man's land between soldiers and protesters. She crouched on the scarred pavement and began to cry. "All my children are afraid at home, and I can't help them," said Asagba, who runs a clothing stand nearby. "I just need to get out of here, anywhere but here." At least three civilians died and 100 were admitted to Lome's main hospital with injuries including gunshot wounds and beatings, said Gerard Besson of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Two soldiers died of gunshot wounds and a third was hacked to death, Interior Minister Foli Bazi Katari said, adding that shops were looted and foreign embassies targeted by rock-throwing protesters. "Those responsible for these actions will be severely punished," he said. "This is not political protest any more, but robbery and destruction." An official at Lome's main morgue put the civilian death toll at 11. Fearing reprisals, he spoke on condition of anonymity. Togo, a nation of 5 million, is economically weak but its turmoil was likely to echo across the region. Nigeria was among the West African nations that intervened to ensure a democratic succession and does not want to see its efforts destroyed by violence. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, executive secretary of the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States -- which declared the elections free and fair despite irregularities -- condemned the opposition's stance. "Self-proclamation or unilateral declaration of presidency, with due respect, is not a democratic way of electing a president," Chambas said. In Paris, the French Foreign Ministry had said it was "generally satisfied" with the election. France is a former colonial ruler in Togo. The leader of Akitani's party, Gilchrist Olympio, called for new elections and said hopes for a national unity government have vanished because of what he called "massive fraud" in the elections. Olympio and Gnassingbe had agreed Monday that whoever won would form a government of national unity. "We should put in structures to make sure that we redo the elections six months for now," Olympio told The Associated Press. ------ Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Paris and Dulue Mbachu in Lagos, Nigeria, contributed to this report.
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