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Representatives of Togo's government and opposition have agreed to hold negotiations in Lome, according to a team of facilitators who visited Lome last week to help find ways to defuse the ongoing political crisis there.
In a final statement read out on 6 May on Togolese radio, the facilitators said they were able to meet the main representatives of opposition parties and the presidential bloc as well as President Gnassingbe Eyadema and that there was a "unanimous desire" by all parties to resume dialogue.
The dispute between the opposition and the presidential bloc has to do with presidential elections held in June 1998 and won, according to the official results, by Eyadema. The opposition maintains that the results of the polls were rigged.
According to Togolese radio, the two sides also agreed last week to meet in Paris to discuss the security of persons participating in the negotiations. That meeting is "to be organized at the initiative of the facilitators", ran the statement, which mentioned no dates.
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