Lome in chaos after election result
Lome: Youths hurled rocks and set up blazing barricades in Togo's capital yesterday after Faure Gnassingbe, the son of the late authoritarian leader, was declared the winner of a presidential vote his rivals say was fixed. Plumes of black smoke rose into the sky over the coastal city as riot police armed with stun grenades and rubber bullets fired tear gas at groups of furious opposition supporters. In the opposition neighbourhood of Doulafame, a group of about angry 50 protesters, armed with knives, sticks, rocks and machetes, hid in a yard as police patrolled on foot nearby. "We are not happy. They've cheated us. Togo is not a kingdom," said Kabir, an unemployed man with a large knife and his face painted white to stop tear gas stinging his skin. "Lome is burning," opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio said in a telephone from Ghana, where he lives in exile. "But the only solution is to come to a political settlement . . . otherwise we are going right into the abyss." Gnassingbe, whose father Gnassingbe Eyadema died in February after ruling the West African country for 38 years, won 60.22% of the vote, according to provisional results announced by electoral commission chief Kissem Tchangai-Walla. Gnassingbe, a business-minded 39-year-old, stood for the ruling Rally of the Togolese People party in the election. Main opposition candidate Emmanuel Akitani-Bob,representing a six-party coalition, won 38.19% of Sunday's vote, while turnout was about 64%. Olympio was barred from running under a residency clause in the constitution. - Reuters Published on the web by Mercury on April 27, 2005. © Mercury 2005. All rights reserved.