15,000 Rally in Togo to End Family's Rule
By LYDIA POLGREEN
Published: February 20, 2005
LOMÉ, Togo, Feb. 19 - With thundering drumbeats and chants of "Togo must be free," about 15,000 protesters streamed into the streets of this seaside capital on Saturday to express their anger at the military's installation of the son of the nation's longtime ruler as president.
A speech on Friday night by the new president, Faure Gnassingbé, was aimed at ending the two-week-old crisis by promising elections within 60 days to replace his father, Gnassingbé Eyadéma, who died of a heart attack on Feb. 5. But the announcement failed to quell demands that Mr. Gnassingbé step down.
If anything, it appeared to help opposition parties draw a crowd far larger than those of earlier demonstrations, a river of people that swelled as hesitant bystanders joined the throng that eventually rallied at a square near the center of town.
"We are tired of this dictatorial regime," shouted Geraldine Nie, 42 and unemployed, as she held a tree branch aloft and marched on the city's main boulevard. "We are no longer afraid. It is either life or death, and what we have now is worse than death."
Mr. Gnassingbé's announcement of elections apparently did not satisfy foreign critics either. Ecowas, a regional economic group that tried to persuade the new president to return to constitutional rule, said it would impose sanctions on Togo, said Remi Oyo, spokeswoman for Olusegun Obasanjo, the president of Nigeria. Later, Ecowas said in a statement it was suspending Togo from participating in the bloc's activities, imposing a travel ban on its leaders, recalling its ambassadors and decreeing an arms embargo, Reuters reported. Richard Boucher, a spokesman for the United States State Department, said Washington backed the decision.
President Obasanjo, who is currently the leader of the African Union, told a Togolese delegation visiting Nigeria that he would not endorse Togo's decision to leave Mr. Gnassingbé as president until elections, Ms. Oyo said in a telephone interview. "Clearly they are not meeting the requirements of the Constitution," she said. "The indications are that he will be a candidate in the elections that he will preside over himself, which is unacceptable."
That announcement increased the considerable international pressure already mounting on Togo, a tiny impoverished nation on the Gulf of Guinea that Mr. Eyadéma ruled for nearly 40 years. A delegation from Ecowas met with Mr. Gnassingbé last week, and on Thursday he flew to meet with Mr. Obasanjo, who told him he must return Togo to constitutional rule. Leaders around the world condemned Togo's move to install the son of the former leader.
"The world must listen well to what the people of Togo have said today," said Jean-Pierre Fabre, secretary general of United Forces for Change, one of the opposition parties that organized the march here. "We reject this so-called president, and so should they." The government also held a rally, which drew about 7,500 people, and Mr. Gnassingbé addressed them, calling for calm. "We have to remain determined but dignified," he said. "Because 60 days is a very short time. I am sure that at the end there will be good things for the Togolese people."
Demonstrators leveled much of their anger at France, which colonized Togo, and its president, Jacques Chirac, who was close to Mr. Eyadéma. Mr. Chirac has condemned the transfer of power to Mr. Eyadéma's son, but the legacy of decades of French support for the man who would become Africa's longest serving ruler was on display.
"Mr. Chirac, you have French people in Togo. Be careful," was the ominous warning of one banner.
After 38 years of rule by an authoritarian government that only recently began making concessions to democracy, the joy of dissent was palpable here on Saturday. Drums throbbed and people sang and danced through the streets. Those who had signs held them aloft; those who did not tore branches off nearby trees and waved them high.
"We have courage to protest now," said Dominique Zotoglo as he joined the crowd. "Togo is not the property of one family. It belongs to us."
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They should be saluted for their bravery and courage to risk their lives for their children's future.38th anniversary of family rule.What a sorry state of affairs..
