Togolese clean up reluctantly after post-poll riots
swissinfo | April 28, 2005 10:50 PM
Togolese clean up reluctantly after post-poll riots By Silvia Aloisi LOME (Reuters) - Security forces in Togo rounded up men and women to clear rocks and tree trunks from the streets on Thursday as the government vowed to restore order after days of protest at the election victory of the late ruler's son. Many of the people using dustpans, bare hands and bundles of reeds to clear the roads in Lome's opposition stronghold of Be said they had been forced to work by police and soldiers, who stood nearby or watched from trucks mounted with machine guns. "For us this is about delinquents not political players. The security forces are going to be more numerous, they will be in very, very abundant supply in difficult neighbourhoods," acting Interior Minister Katari Foli-Bazi told reporters. A Reuters reporter saw security forces in one area beating people with sticks as they worked. One man showed his swollen hand and cried: "They are beating us. They wanted to kill us." Days of clashes between security forces and opposition youths in Lome left at least 30 people dead and some 150 injured after Faure Gnassingbe, son of former leader Gnassingbe Eyadema, was declared winner of a poll his opponents say was fixed. Around 4,000 people have fled into neighbouring Benin and Ghana since Sunday's election, the U.N. refugee agency said. Although Lome was calm, there were reports of unrest elsewhere. In Aneho, 45 km (28 miles) to the east near Benin, a hospital source said nine people had been killed in recent days. "They (soldiers) are shooting all around the town. They entered our houses," said one man heading out of Aneho. A medical worker said two villages on the road to Benin had been attacked by helicopters, killing two people and injuring six. Aid workers said eight people were killed in the central town of Atakpame. It was impossible to verify the reports. Interim president Abass Bonfoh said no order had been given to shoot at demonstrators and said that members of the security forces had died in the violence because they had respected that. WHAT NEXT? The former French colony spun into chaos when Eyadema died in February after 38 years in power and army leaders named Gnassingbe to replace him. He eventually quit under fierce international pressure and called elections. Sunday's poll was effectively a referendum on four decades of repressive rule by Eyadema, who led a 1963 coup and eventually became Africa's longest-serving leader. Some protesters, frustrated by Eyadema's long reign and the prospect of his son taking over, said they had not been able to get out to buy food for days during pitched battles with security forces but vowed that their struggle was not over. "Today we are tired. Today we are resting. But it's not over. We'll start again," said Lambert, an unemployed 32-year old hiding behind a wall as security forces went from house to house ordering people to clean up the streets. "There is such exasperation. I think the opposition leaders will be overtaken by the man in the street. The trouble is going to continue in cycles for some time," said one western diplomat. Opposition leaders accuse Gnassingbe's camp of massive fraud. Their losing candidate, Emmanuel Akitani-Bob, who won 38 percent of the vote against Gnassingbe's 60 percent, has declared himself president and demanded the results be annulled in 13 out of Togo's 31 districts. International reaction to the election has been mixed, with France and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) calling it satisfactory despite some irregularities but the United States questioning the results. Louis Michel, European commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, said he was seriously concerned about the violence and called for a return to calm.
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