Togo security blocks entrances to opposition headquarters to prevent post-election protests

Togo security blocks opposition headquarters

LOME, Togo — Anti-riot police sealed off the sandy alleyways leading to the headquarters of Togo’s largest opposition party on Monday, stranding the country’s opposition leader outside for more than an hour in a tense standoff following a contentious election.

Jean-Pierre Fabre has vowed to take to the streets every day to protest what he says was a fraudulent election, saying he would only stop when the police had exhausted their stock of tear gas or killed him. His party, the Union for the Forces of Change, said they planned to go ahead with a march on Tuesday despite the fact that the government had banned it.

Provisional results late Saturday showed Fabre, 57, lost to current President Faure Gnassingbe, whose 1.2 million votes gave him 60.9 percent of the vote. Fabre received 692,584 votes, or 33.9 percent.

Col. Damehane Yark, spokesman for a special election commando unit, said the roads leading to the party’s office were being blocked to prevent opposition supporters from marching and disrupting traffic on the main boulevards as they had briefly on Sunday, before being pelted with tear gas.

On Monday, security forces placed their fiberglass shields in a line to create a blockade at the mouth of the three passages leading to the UFC office in a downtrodden neighborhood of the capital strewn with trash.

“They are trying to provoke our young people, and then they are going to throw grenades at them,” Fabre said during the standoff with police. “You see?”

Reporters saw him approach and try to talk to the police, who refused to answer him. He circled around his car and made phone calls, as other party leaders arrived and were also prevented from entering. Over an hour later, the police abruptly moved back their shields without explanation, allowing the leader to enter, but continued blocking access to regular citizens who stood watching from across the road.

Opposition spokesman Eric Dupuy said in an open letter to the government issued late Monday that the march Tuesday to demand a review of the preliminary results from last week’s election would go ahead as planned.

Florent Konon, a 37-year-old unemployed man, said he was willing to die demonstrating against the election results. “We don’t have guns, but we are armed psychologically. If they kill us, they will have to kill all of us,” he said.

The European Union’s observation mission in Togo did not mention evidence of ballot stuffing or vote rigging — as the opposition alleges — in its preliminary report, but did say there is evidence the ruling party may have tried to buy off voters by handing out rice to the country’s deeply impoverished people.

Eyadema Gnassingbe ruled the country for 38 years, only for his son to seize power upon his death on Feb. 5, 2005.

Last week’s election is only the second since the death of the dictator. The younger Gnassingbe’s victory extends the family’s rule into a 44th year and will mean the political dynasty will stay in power for nearly half a century.

Early results indicated that in the provinces where the rice was given out, voter turnout was high and people overwhelmingly voted for Gnassingbe. The district-by-district results also show that voter turnout was extremely low in opposition strongholds, such as Lome.

The opposition claims its voters were systematically intimidated and are traumatized by memories of the last election five years ago in which at least 400 people were killed in postelection violence. Pro-Gnassingbe militias hunted down opposition voters, killing many in their own homes, according to a United Nations report and an investigation by Amnesty International.

Associated Press Television News senior producer Bishr El-Touni in Lome, Togo contributed to this report.