No – elections do not a legitimate leader make. When Gnassingbe Eyadema died on February 5, 2005, the monthly Afrique Asie ran a cover story titled, “Togo: The End of the Eyadema Empire.” That cover story could not have been farther from the truth in its failure to analyze the role of Eyadema’s two sons, Commander Rock Gnassingbe and Faure Eyadema, in the politico-military future of the country. After a shot gun paternal succession process, the amorphous “international community” expressed its outrage and called for immediate elections.
The quality of the elections seemed unimportant, so long as they were held immediately. The electoral process was a dog and pony show. The electoral law remained ambiguous as to candidate eligibility until a month before the April elections. Then, Eyadema II’s main opponent, Gilchrist Olympio, was not allowed to submit his candidacy for the presidency. (It would have been fun to see 2 sons tussle for a presidency once occupied by their daddies ;-).
Now all eyes are averted from Lome, where the Togolese people are responding to police and military brutality with displacement to Benin. As Togo’s political polarities failed to bridge their differences in Abuja a week ago, the future of the nation hangs in a balance.
Despite Eyadema II’s pledge to for a single term of political and economic reform in Togo, his lack of control over the forces of oppression is evident. Sporadic voices have emerged calling for a resort to arms against government sanctioned politically motivated assassinations, mass disappearances and rape.
A nation with 6 million inhabitants, Togo straddles two emerging African democracies, Ghana – to the west and Benin – to the right. However, the tendency has been for fleeing populations to flee towards Benin, because of the shared francophone linguistic heritage. The situation in Togo presents a security risk for an already precarious West African region. The Eyadema Empire stroked back.
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