Here is a sad development. What the heck is Kofi Annan and the U.N. doing about this coup? If he can't influence events a few hundred miles from his own home town, how can anyone expect him to be a force for good anywhere else?
It's a straight up military coup, like those in the banana republics of Central America years ago. What are you doing about it Kofi? Are you waiting for America to take the lead, again? In your own back-yard?
Togo's people stay at home, Africans eye sanctions
reuters.co.za
Tue February 8, 2005 12:46 PM GMT+02:00
By John Zodzi
LOME (Reuters) - Thousands of Togo's workers stayed at home on Tuesday after opposition parties called a protest against the naming of the deceased president's son as leader, while African nations threatened to shun the new man.
The streets of the capital Lome were semi-deserted. Banks were open but there were few clients. Children went to school in the coastal city but returned home when teachers did not turn up. Taxi drivers parked their cars for want of passengers.
The West African nation's main opposition parties called the two-day stay-at-home protest after Faure Gnassingbe was named leader by the army and sworn in as president on Monday despite fierce international criticism.
The military appointed Gnassingbe, a 39-year-old civilian, just hours after his father Gnassingbe Eyadema, Africa's longest serving leader and an archetypal African "Big Man", died.
The former French colony's constitution was hastily tweaked on Sunday to retroactively allow the move by making Gnassingbe his father's legal successor and clearing the way for him to run the country until 2008.
France and African leaders have decried the transfer of power as unconstitutional. An emergency summit of the Economic Community of West African States is to be held on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Togo moved a step closer to becoming a pariah state on the continent, with the African Union (AU) threatening sanctions unless it restored "constitutional legality."
The AU's Peace and Security Council (PSC) said in a statement that Gnassingbe's appointment was "a blatant and unacceptable violation of the Togolese constitution".
AU officials said sanctions would mean Togo would no longer be allowed to take part in any meetings or decisions.
MARKET DESERTED
At Lome's main market, most stalls were empty on Tuesday.
"I agree with the calling of a protest. It's a choice and that's democracy but I think that people did not come out because they are intimidated," said Marie-Louise, a trader.
In the past, opposition militants have sometimes threatened people who break protest orders.
"Customers have not come out this morning and it's serious for us," said Jean Kokou, manager of a telephone stall.
Lome's jittery residents were given a scare late Monday when shooting broke out in the city, but state television said later it was just prison guards trying to stop inmates from escaping.
Togo's main opposition leader, Gilchrist Olympio, who lives in exile, has also called for protests, but demonstrations have been banned for the official two-month mourning period.
The Interior Ministry said security would be tightened but there were few soldiers or police visible on Tuesday.
Togo was gripped by political unrest in the late 1990s. Amnesty International has accused security forces of killing hundreds of people during and after an election in 1998.
A top European Union official said on Tuesday the transfer of power cast doubt on EU talks with Togo to resume aid, suspended in 1993 because of "democratic deficiencies".
Louis Michel, EU commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, told Radio France Internationale Gnassingbe should explain why he and the army acted as they did.
"This puts everything back to zero. This poses again the problem of democracy and the place the army takes in the regime," he said.
Eyadema, a former wrestling champion, seized power in 1967. His authoritarian style and slow pace of political reform drew international criticism although he carved a role for himself as a peacemaker on the African stage.
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