Lome — Tensions surrounding the recent arrest of the Togolese president's brother on coup-plotting charges and the detention of other civilians will test reconciliation efforts in the country, still recovering from 2005 election violence, civil society leaders say.
President Faure Gnassingbé came to power in a 2005 election that ended with violent military crackdowns on civilian protesters, with tens of thousands of people fleeing to neighbouring countries.
Koukou Amegblé told IRIN he was in his 30s when he fled to Benin during election violence. "It is not easy to leave your country and take refuge in another. I never wish to relive the experience in 2005 that forced me to [flee to] Benin. Whatever happens, I implore political actors to spare [us] the violence that would lead us outside our borders again."
A parliament member and former defence minister, the brother Kpatcha Gnassingbé is seen as increasingly influential in the ruling party and a potential challenge to Faure in the presidential election set for April 2010, according to Jean-Pierre Fabre, Secretary General of the opposition Union of Forces for Change party.
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A 2006 peace agreement created a unity government committed to holding a peaceful legislative election in 2007 and setting up an independent truth and reconciliation commission to examine allegations of human rights abuses.
Recommendations for such a commission were gathered in a national survey of 25,000 people and submitted to the government in September 2008.
Human rights groups and opposition party members have accused the military of continued gross human rights abuses, dating back as far as independence in 1956.
Togo's Minister of Human Rights, Hamadou Yacoubou, told IRIN the alleged coup attempt has not derailed the state's work on creating a truth and reconciliation commission. "On the contrary, it has reinforced our determination to reconcile [all sides]. We will show the Togolese and the world that reconciliation is not an illusion." He said the government has solicited nominations for commission members from various civil society groups.
Another bloodbath must be avoided at all costs, said Edoh Komi, a pastor and president of the Federation of Churches and Missions in Togo. "The Togolese people have suffered too much. We should rather consolidate the gains and partial resumption of donor cooperation."
Komi told IRIN the recent presumed coup attempt is a test for the country to maintain its newfound peace, and "for the head of state to cultivate a spirit of forgiveness and unity for a lasting reconciliation."
Following the 2007 legislative election, which was widely judged as free and fair, aid agencies and governments pledged more than US$1 billion to help rebuild the country after more than 10 years of scaled-back donor support.
Funding had dropped by more than 60 percent from 1990 to 2005, according to the UN, as donors protested recurrent human rights abuses met with impunity.
The UN Special Representative for West Africa, Said Djinnit, said after a meeting with President Gnassigbé in Togo on 20 April that in Africa, where democracy-building can be seen as a threat, election preparations could create "challenges to stability and social cohesion and must be carried out carefully."
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
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REGARDS THE TOGO COUP ALSO
Rawlings Togo Bandits in The Gambia??? Dida Halake Explains!!!
The recent failed coup attempt in Togo casts some light on rebel activities in that country and somehow links it to the pictured gentlemans activities in The Gambia. The first coup attempt was against late President Eyadema and it was organized according to reliable information from Jerry Rawlings Ghana by Gilchrist Olympio, the current Opposition Leader who has just legged it to Ghana. When Gilchrist sent in his boys prematurely so as to make himself the President should the coup succeed, Rawlings was mad and summoned him to The Castle in the middle of the night. Jerry put the trembling Gilchrist under house arrest for 2 years for his impetuous behaviour which resulted in the failure of the coup attempt. Olympios nephew Lucian Agbeko Kwame Hounkanlil Olympio (pictured) was convicted in absentia and he ran away to Europe (He has since confessed to his key role in that earlier coup). From London where he now teaches, he has been able to continue clandestine political work and there is some claim that he and the Togo Opposition clandestinely supported last months failed coup attempt too then immediately writing the post-coup Press Release from London to absolve Gilchrist Olympio.
For the Olympios it really is a matter of revenge against the Eyademas. The late President Eyadema overthrew and executed the First President of Togo the dictatorial Sylvanus Olympio in 1963. The second generation of Olympios which includes Rawlings (who some claim is really Togolese) have not forgiven the Eyademas and are determined to overthrow them. It is almost an ancient biblical tribal feud that the Olympios are embarked on.
Lucian Olympio is a regular visitor to The Gambia through his former girlfriend. The girlfriend dumped him for fellow Fula man Jungo Bah, former diplomat to Belgium. Apparently, Olympio has a group of his boys in The Gambia and they were sent to visit the ex-girlfriend in the Cotton Club. Lucian Olympios financial clout is such that he was not only able to get away with invading Jungo Bahs home and confronting Jungo Bahs wife (about Jungo snatching girlfriend!), but he was also able to get an NIA senior official called George to visit and warn Jungo Bah. The Gambian girlfriend of Jungo Bahs remains faithful to Jungo Bah. Olympio has also been seeking alliance with a certain influential Gambian to pressurise Jungo Bah, but the Gambian has wisely declined inspite of Olympios occasional remittances. But Olympios boys still remain there, so beware Mr. Jungo Bah!!! Although I am proud to say that although Gambians may receive remittances out of need, they do not necessarily follow this up with harassing fellow Gambians on behalf of such unscrupulous people. In other countries, as we all know, they would kill somebody innocent just for a remittance!
The Olympios are a Mulatto mix and light-skinned. To this day it is understood that many still try to keep their skin light through marriage to other light-skinned people (To his credit, Jerry Rawlings had the guts to marry a beautiful dark-skinned African woman whom he still loves nice peace on skin colour issues last week Watchman!). Until the abolition of slavery, the Mulatto Olympios related to the white slave traders through blood were slave dealers selling black Africans to be transported across the Atlantic. To this day the Mulatto Olympios consider themselves superior to darker-skinned Black Africans like the Eyademas and the majority Togolese. Just as happened with the Americo-Liberian rule of the Tubmans in Liberia in the 1980s when Samuel Doe led a coup, the Black Africans resented this condenscending attitude. That led to the deposing and assassination of President Olympio in 1963 and the assumption of power by Eyadema.
But we hope the youngest Olympio is not planning the next move against the Eyademas from The Gambia, for peaceful Gambia will never tolerate such a thing against any of our African neighbours. Anyhow, would-be coupists and revolutionaries should remain level headed and certainly keep their eyes on the ball hot-headed passion may expose their stories to journalists like us when they pursue their jealousy too far!
PS. On my plans for writing this piece being discovered, I was threatened with all sorts of calamities. Two strangers visited my home in Kotu pretending to be state security and asking for me. I have ascertained from authorities that these chaps are simply bandits and they have been reported to Kotu Police Station
By Dida Halake didahalake@hotmail.com
May 06, 2009 by FREEDOMNEWSPAPER.COM May 10th by ALLGAMBIAN.NET.