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BBC News:  Friday, 11 February, 2005, 16:36 GMT

Togo defies West African leaders

West African leaders have abandoned a trip to discuss Togo's constitutional crisis, in a row over the venue.
Togo wanted West African leaders to travel to the northern city of Kara, near the home area of new leader Faure Gnassingbe instead of the capital.

Earlier, regional heavyweight Nigeria said it was recalling its ambassador. In the capital, Lome, riot police have used tear gas to disperse hundreds of opposition supporters, protesting at the weekend's "military coup".

Home ground

The constitutional amendment which allowed Faure Gnassingbe to be installed as president following the death of his father Gnassingbe Eyadema has been condemned by West African leaders, and the international community.

On Friday, South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki described it as "a charade".

BBC Africa analyst Elizabeth Blunt says the proposed change of venue for the planned meeting between Mr Faure and five West African presidents would have been significant because it is close to the Gnassingbe family's home village, where Eyadema's body has been taken.

She says Mr Faure would then be on home ground and the West African leaders may not feel able to hector him about the way he came to power after viewing his father's body.

"Lome is the capital and it is where are the stakeholders in the crisis are," said a spokeswoman for Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo.

She initially said that Mr Obasanjo's advance party had been refused entry to Togo.

But Togo Information Minister Pitang Tchalla said their flight had merely been diverted to Kara.

"We do not understand why the Obasanjo delegation does not want to come to Kara," he said.

Black smoke

Nigeria has also restricted the movements of Togolese diplomats and has warned its tiny neighbour that it would be held responsible for any violence against the many Nigerians who live in Togo.

The leaders of Benin, Ghana, Mali, Niger and Nigeria met in the Benin capital, Cotonou, before deciding not to travel to Kara.

In Cotonou, they were due to meet Togo's former speaker of parliament Fambare Natchaba Ouattara who was supposed to succeed Eyadema before the constitution was hastily amended.

West African leaders have threatened to impose sanctions unless Togo respects its former constitution.

The Lome demonstrators set fire to tyres, sending thick plumes of black smoke into the air above the opposition stronghold of Be.

"We know how to shoot guns and we are ready to fight," said Kofi Awokou, a 30-year-old mechanic.

The authorities have also closed down a radio station which broadcast an interview in which an opposition politician, Harry Olympio, allegedly incited "revolt and hatred".

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