Outward calm belies continuing problems

The flagstones hurled by protesters in pitched street battles against security forces in Togo’s capital, Lome, a year ago to the day have been re-laid, but the troubles not yet quite put to rest. The tiny West African nation saw weeks of protests and security crackdowns following a disputed father-to-son succession, initially supported by the military and then confirmed at the ballot box a year ago in an election the opposition said was rigged. The violence claimed between 400 and 500 lives, according to an inquiry by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour. Today traders and residents bustle over the cracks in the repaired pavement, going about their daily business, but the memories of the tension surrounding President Faure Gnassingbe’s election as new head of state have not faded. A youth who gave his name only as Akoua, meaning “Wednesday-born”, said he still dares not return to the Be quarter of town, a poor opposition stronghold which saw some of the most heated demonstrations, for fear of a repeat of last year’s night time raids by security forces. “I was visiting friends when we heard the gunfire, and the next thing we knew soldiers burst into the house and we had to hide in the bedrooms,” said the student, “I’m too scared to go back there.” Some 40,000 people, many of them Akoua’s age, fled the country altogether, more than 25,000 across the eastern border to Benin, and 15,000 to Ghana. A year on around 20,000 people refuse to budge from the Benin camps. Like Leon Kluvi, many refugees say they will not go home until the perpetrators of the violence they fled are brought to justice. “Justice must be done and that’s the sole price we have for going back,” Kluvi said. Amnesty International, in a statement released Wednesday, said that last year’s violence was made possible “by a culture of total impunity in place for more then 30 years.” It appealed to the UN and to human rights groups to help bring those responsible for the violence to justice, “in particular, the members of the security forces and militia who carried out those acts, including summary executions and torture.” But according to Amnesty, months of reconciliation dialogue set as a pre-condition to the resumption of European Union aid suspended in 1993, have failed to produce a single concrete measure to bring justice for crimes committed in 2005. And promised legislative elections have still to take place. Gnassingbe, a former cabinet minister educated in France and the United states who is now 39, succeeded his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema. At the time of his death in February 2005, he was Africa’s longest serving head of state with 38 years in office behind him. While Eyadema ushered in elections relatively early for West Africa in 1979, the onetime coup leader was the only candidate on paper at that ballot. Almost two decades later, in the run-up to a 1998 vote, Amnesty claimed the situation was little better, accusing the president’s security forces of executing hundreds of civilians ahead of the polls. Callers to a talk radio show held to mark the 12-month anniversary of Faure Gnassingbe’s electoral victory supported Amnesty Internatrional’s view that Togo’s armed forces need to be entirely restructured before the country can move forward on the democratic front. Last September, Arbour’s UN report too had said the Togolese army, long the preserve of the ruling family's Kabiye ethnic group, needed overhauling. The one-year anniversary however has seen some effort to smoothing lingering tensions. Last Friday a new fortnight-long round of national dialogue began in Lome. The agenda included reform of the armed forces, impunity issues and electoral reform, according to opposition leader Yawovi Agboyibo, who was selected by vote to lead the dialogue. But while some might bemoan slow progress, others in Lome point to subtle changes since Faure Gnassingbe stepped into his father’s shoes. Togo’s original Independence Day from France – 27 April 1960 – is to be literally re-written back in to the history books. Under Gnassingbe Eyadema, Independence Day was celebrated on the 13 January, the day he seized power in a 1967 coup. Independence Day celebrations on the 27 April are due to take place Thursday for the first time in nearly three decades. And Lome residents feel more at ease speaking their minds these days. “My colleagues and I discuss the newspaper headlines in front of the news kiosks and we are not frightened to do so,” said Leo Kpakpo, who explained that it wasn’t like that under the late Eyadema. His regime was marked by repression of the opposition, according to the media watchdog NGO Reporters Without Borders. Now, all journalists jailed for speaking out against the government have been released, a move guardedly welcomed by Togolese Media Observers (OTM). “There is much still to be done,” warned Francis Amouzou, president of OTM. “It is important to remember that at the beginning of Faure Gnassingbe’s regime, journalists were physically assaulted and there have been no enquiries into this harassment.” But for many Lome residents, the dialogue and debate comes second to more pressing economic matters. With global petrol prices reaching new highs of US $75 per barrel this year, the cost of living is rising while meagre wages remain static at around US $1,700 a year, according to the UN. “Petrol is more and more expensive, everyday items have now become luxury goods,” complained one Lome resident who gave his name only as Mr Yaovi. “Our salaries are a joke.”