Togo: Togo opposition denounces international community's 'support' for referendum

06 Octobre 2017

LOME, Togo, October 6 (Infosplusgabon) -  Togolese opposition leader Jean-Pierre Fabre has lashed out at key international bodies urging the West African country's political actors to hold a referendum on term limits as being pushed by the government.

He told demonstrators at the end of a march in Lome on Thursday that the international community could not dictate terms to them, stressing that all the opposition wanted was a  return to the 1992 Constitution.

"The outside world will not dictate their laws to us," said Fabre, commenting on a joint communiqué issued by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), African Union and the UN Office for West Africa and Sahel (UNOWAS), calling on the Togolese government to "set a date for the referendum on the constitutional bill".

"What Togolese are demanding is not the holding a referendum, but a return to the 1992 Constitution, with its consequences, that is, the departure of President Faure Gnassingbé.

Fabre also criticised ECOWAS which, according to him, was an institution used to "sanction abuses of power".

"ECOWAS, we don’t care! They don’t give us orders. It is Togolese who decide for their fate," he said.

Fabre urged the African Union, "to look seriously into the Togolese dossier before giving their opinion".

On Wednesday, ECOWAS, AU and UNOWAS made public a joint communiqué urging restraint by Togolese political actors and to hold a referendum.

This appeal angered the opposition whose supporters took to the streets on Thursday.

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/AOP/GABON 2017

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