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| Africa: Subsaharan |
| Togo Opposition Leader Launches Campaign |
| 2005-03-19 |
| Togo's leading opposition politician spends little time in his homeland for fear of assassination, is barred by law from running in upcoming presidential elections and just heard his own cousin declare his candidacy in defiance of attempts to unify the opposition. But Gilchrist Olympio plans to campaign in Togo starting with a weekend rally to introduce his candidate. "Do I think the balloting will be free and fair? Not at this stage," he said in a telephone interview Friday as he prepared to drive across the Ghana-Togo border. But "we will find a way to make sure our views prevail." Olympio fled in 1997 after a series of attempts on his life, including one in 1992 in which he was seriously wounded. He has since divided most of his time between France and Ghana, with occasional visits home. Olympio's is among six parties that agreed to back veteran opposition leader Emmanuel Bob Akitani in a bid to overcome the dissension that long has weakened the opposition. Unity was seen as the only way to seriously challenge front-runner Faure Gnassingbe, whose father Gnassingbe Eyadema had been Togo's military dictator for 38 years. Olympio's father Sylvanus Olympio, Togo's first democratically elected leader, was assassinated in a 1963 coup led by Eyadema, who openly took power four years later. |
| Posted by:Fred |