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BBC NEWS: Wednesday, 16 February, 2005, 16:01 GMT

Togo army 'backing down on coup'

Togo's military has agreed to "return the country to constitutional order" following talks with West African envoys, a Togolese general has said.
Togo's neighbours and the international community condemned the army-backed moves to install Faure Gnassingbe as president following his father's death.

Gen Seyi Memene did not give further details but an anonymous source said elections would be held within 60 days.

At least four people have been killed in protests against the "coup".

The constitution was changed after the death of President Gnassingbe Eyadema to allow his son to serve out his father's term of office, which ran until 2008.

Optimism

The envoys met Mr Faure and afterwards, Niger's Foreign Minister Aichatou Mindaoudou said their discussions had been "very fruitful and encouraging."

The BBC's Ebow Godwin in the capital, Lome, said that although the details of the talks have not been made public, there is renewed optimism of a possible breakthrough.

The meeting came as an ultimatum by Ecowas - the 15-member Economic Community of West African States - threatening Togo with sanctions unless it returned to constitutional order by the end of Tuesday expired.

Ecowas executive secretary Mohammed Ibn Chambas said nothing further would be revealed until the ministers had briefed regional heads of states.

"They gave us the impression that they will go back to the constitution but there are still some details on which we have to wait until they announce it," said Nigerian Foreign Minister Olu Adeniji, according to the AFP news agency.

He said he expected Togo to make a detailed announcement later on Wednesday.

Radios closed

Mr Faure has praised his police force and condemned those who organised a 3,000-strong rally on Saturday in which three demonstrators died.

Meanwhile, a crackdown on private media continued on Tuesday with the closure of one television and three radio stations for "financial reasons", AFP reports, bringing to eight the number of stations shut down in the past 10 days.

According to the original constitution, parliamentary speaker Fambare Natchaba Ouattara was supposed to take over as caretaker leader following the death of Africa's longest-serving leader with elections to follow within two months.

However, parliament was hastily called to replace Mr Ouattara with Faure Gnassingbe.

The new leader has already promised "free and fair" elections soon - but correspondents say he may be referring to parliamentary polls due this year, rather than a presidential ballot.

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