** Please visit our website: http://www.africanassociation.org **

 BBC NEWS:: Thursday, 21 April, 2005, 08:37 GMT 09:37 UK

Annan appeals for calm Togo vote

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appealed for calm in Togo ahead of Sunday's presidential election.
There have been violent clashes sparked by demonstrations in the streets of the capital, Lome, and other towns.

The main opposition candidate boycotted a meeting called by Niger's president, saying it was pointless unless polls were delayed.

Mr Annan urged political leaders to avoid any actions or statements that could incite or contribute to violence.
He also urged the Togolese authorities to do all they could to enable people to vote freely and peacefully.

Fair poll

Meanwhile, reports suggest the main independent radio station has been shut down for a month, for failing to heed instructions from the election commission severely restricting their coverage of the election.

At the talks in the capital of Niger, Niamey, the other three Togolese candidates, including Faure Gnassingbe of the governing party in Togo, issued a statement in which they said the poll would be held as scheduled.

The army failed to impose Faure as Togo's leader
They also promised to take all necessary steps to ensure the security and fairness of the election process.

Exiled opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio has returned to Togo but is barred from running for president. He is campaigning for the vice-president of his Union of Forces for Change, Emmanuel Bob Akitani.

Some 120 electoral observers from other West African countries are in Togo but their powers are limited to seeing that Togo obeys its own electoral laws and regulations.

When the country's president of 38 years, Gnassingbe Eyadema, died in February the first plan was to swear in his son Faure Gnassingbe in his place. But Togo's African neighbours, backed by pressure from Europe and the United States, forced the government to back down and to hold fresh elections according to the constitution.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, visit:

        http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/aam.html

AAM Website:  http://www.africanassociation.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------------