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Togo |
POLITICS
The political situation remains unchanged since the beginning of the democratic process
The Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), the party which has held onto power for more than 34 years, is still there. Worse still, it’s not ready for change. The popular struggle against what amounts to a one-party state, has resulted in dozens of dead and disappeared and hundreds of exiles, but all in vain. The causes of the failure are firmly linked to a divided Opposition. President Eyadema has held onto power for more than three decades. In 1999, he promised to step down at the end of his present mandate (2003), but his promise is no longer reassuring. The parliamentary elections which were supposed to take Togo out of this crisis, have still not taken place. They were originally scheduled for 2000, then re-scheduled for 2001. Now they’ve been postponed sine die. Moderators at the Commission for Inter-Congolese Dialogue, comprising representatives from the European Union, the French-speaking world, France and from Germany, have done their best to hurry things along, but all has come to nothing. Their mandate is scheduled to end in May 2002.
The Agboyibo case
Yaovi Agboyibo, chairman of the Action Committee for Renewal (CAR) has been imprisoned since 3 August 2001. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The Opposition, united for once, made this its trump card. It insisted on Agboyibo’s release before it would restart work within the Joint Follow-up Committee (CPS), the body charged with carrying out the Lome Framework Agreement (signed in July 1999 between the government and the Opposition under the sponsorship of the international community), providing for early elections.
After a number of interventions and especially after any number of new developments, the CAR‘s chairman was finally released on 14 March, having spent more than six months behind bars. Immediately afterwards, Mr. Agboyibo declared: «You don’t get peace with emotive appeals, neither with generalised proposals concerning pardon and reconciliation. Above all, it’s a question of harmonising different political idealogies, even though they may seem miles apart, so that eventually there’s a place for everyone». All were waiting for him to «have a go» at Togo’s political leaders for having unjustly put him in jail. Especially as the main accusation against him — libel, which came from the Prime Minister’s office, was insignificant both in form and content. Both Togolese and French lawyers mobilised behind their imprisoned colleague, tried for more than six months to show the stupidity of the charge against him. In vain. Even some Togolese magistrates resigned in protest at the different unlawful verdicts. No matter. The politician’s eventual release was only possible thanks to the personal intervention of the Head of State. He confirmed what had always been said: «This is not a legal matter but political.»
Blockages
The CPS, with the full Opposition and the government, resumed work on 26 March, but the working climate was not very positive. Even if first contacts were made in an easy-going atmosphere, points of contention soon dispelled the optimism shown by some after Mr. Agboyibo’s release.
The 2 April session was marked by traditional antagonistic positions. Parliament, with its overall ruling party majority, had unilaterally amended the Electoral Code. The Opposition rejected this categorically. «It’s unlawful to modify unilaterally something which we had adopted by consensus,» they maintained unanimously. One member of the Panafrican Patriotic Convergence (CPP), former prime minister Eden Kodjo’s party, declared: «The government must rescind its decision. We are speaking first and foremost about the form. After, we can study the content of these amendments around the negotiating table. But first, everything’s got to be cancelled.»
Rumour has it that in fact the Opposition considers some of these amendments to be relevant. One amendment requires presidential candidates to reside in the country for at least one year prior to elections and candidates for parliament to be resident for six months. All candidates must prove beyond doubt their Togolese nationality, and those with multiple nationalities must relinquish the others. An opposition party leader puts it this way: «We want to take up negotiations where they were left off and to consider null and void all decisions taken unilaterally by the RPT». The ruling party does not see things the same way. They have asked the Opposition to show that the amendments made to the Electoral Code are not in harmony with the Lome Framework Agreement.
In conclusion, the government is keeping the revised Electoral Code in its amended state, to the great displeasure of the opposition. The Inter-Togolese Dialogue moderators have announced that «if all the delegations represented in the CPS clearly show their determination to find a way towards consensus, and if all parties so desire, the moderators will remain at their disposition to examine with them, on the basis of the CPS‘ minutes, ways and means of reaching a point where elections can be held and of settling the final questions concerning the Lome Framework Agreement. This is the only remaining hope.
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