w o r d s

German Vice-chancellor and foreign minister Steinmeier is in Togo for talks with Faure Gnassingbe. He appears to be following the new EU strategy of engagement with Gnassingbe, whereby they hope to win concessions on the development of a more functional democracy in Togo. Good luck with that.

Also, I cannot stand these idiotic descriptions of Togo that use the words “sliver” or “wedged” or “tiny.” Yeah - Togo is relatively small, but so are Bhutan, Dubai, Liechtenstein and many more perfectly respectable nations. The only “tiny” thing that is “wedged” is some reporter’s … uh … vocabulary.

Congratulations to the team from Egypt for defending the title in the Cup of African Nations against the team from Cameroon (1-0). The host Ghana came in third place on Saturday, defeating Ivory Coast 0-1.

The Africa Cup of Nations began today with close 2-1 win for host Ghana over Guinea. Congratulations to the Black Stars!

This Africa Cup is considered a dress rehearsal for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, where several African teams are hoping to showcase world class African Football. In any case, the Africa Cup is probably the largest, most intensely watched sports event in Africa. Hopes are high for all participating nations. But especially for for some nations, like Ivory Coast and Kenya, many hope that rooting for the same team may help heal painful divisions at home.

Germany’s contribution to the Africa Cup are three coaches (de): Reinhard Fabisch for Benin, Otto Pfister for Cameroon and, most notably, the 1974 world championship team member and former German national team coach Berti Vogts, coaching for Nigeria. The expectations for Vogts to take the Super Eagles to the title are very high, especially in Nigeria. The first match, on Monday against Ivory Coast, will likely be a serious test and an indication how well Nigeria’s expectations will be matched by results.

In Togo, there was some hope that the this month’s legislative election was going to be bring about some change in the political landscape of that troubled country. In retrospect, I am not sure why. Maybe because Faure’s regime is slightly less brutally oppressive than his father’s? Maybe the increased presence of international observers? The sad fact is that the ruling RPT controls all aspects of government, including the electoral commission, and they are not at all inclined to loosen their grip on power. So another election was rigged to make it look like the Togolese people want the RPT in charge.

The quandary of the opposition in Togo is that they cannot win playing by the rules, because the RPT makes the rules and owns the process. They cannot win by force, because the army is mostly loyal to the Gnassingbe clan, which is supported by the French government. And finally, how can the opposition even begin to break that stranglehold on the country, when it is as fractured as it is, and when most of it’s leadership lives abroad? The reality is that as long as France has no interest in change in Togo, and the rest of the world does not much care, they stand very little chance to effect significant change politically.

In the current situation, the opposition should change it’s approach and adopt a long-term strategy of unifying the democratic forces in Togo, and of building a grassroots organization across the country. It looks like they have enough freedom now to operate openly without too much danger. So if they manage to foster a new generation of leaders, and if they nurture the spirit of participatory democracy across the country, they might effect a cultural change, and change in what people expect from their leaders. Right now, I think expectations are quite low. People expect they leaders to rob them. So they just want leaders in place from their clan or region, so at least they won’t suffer. Togo needs leadership that transcends tribalism and greed. If the Togolese opposition can unify, organize and show such leadership, it might be able to push out the forces that currently hold back their country.

On Aug. 26 last year, the LRA and the Ugandan government signed a truce, putting an end to 20 years of war and brutality in Northern Uganda. A friend of mine just returned from Gulu recently and he told me last week about how much that town has changed. Four new Hotels are under construction, many of the Night Commuters have returned to their villages, foreign aid is reaching the area and the town is bustling with commercial activity.

These are all hopeful signs for healing and development in a region that has been ravaged by civil war. Still, the truce is fragile, and the wounds are deep and fresh. Much help and healing will be required to bring the Acholi people back on their feet. The question of justice and reconciliation will require some careful and creative consideration. The Ugandan Sunday Monitor published an article that summarizes the current situation:

Today, northern Uganda is more peaceful than ever. In fact, the government team currently consulting victims on justice and peace issues are traversing the region freely in a way they would not just a year ago. Night commuters (displaced children walking to urban areas to sleep in the relative safety of shop verandahs), have greatly reduced. The number of people living in internally displaced people camps has dropped from 2.2 million in 2002 to 1.2 million according to the UN today. But as the fractured region tries to pick the pieces, what do the victims say?

War victims trapped in search for peace and justice, Sunday Monitor, Kampala, Uganda, August 26

Also, check out the Uganda-CAN website for more current info on this issue.

There is so much interesting and important stuff going on:

• A new film documents the ongoing genocide perpetrated on the Acholi people in Uganda (HT to Vicky), perpetuated by, among other things, US military aid (war-on-terror-dollars)
• The US Congress is debating about subsidies for a road fuel that releases twice as much pollution as gasoline: liquefied coal
• The dictator son-of-the-dead-dictator Faure Ganssingbé has re-nationalized a key industry in Togo. Could it be that this has anything to do with the ongoing rivalry with Faure’s powerful brother Kpatcha?
• NSPD 51: in a “catastrophic emergency” in the US, the Shrubman will become essentially a dictator. Proclaims the Shrubman. Worried?
• The German police used military reconnaissance jets to spy on German G8 protestors. Is that constitutional? Is it smart?
• The Swedes come up with a more ecological way to bury their dead: freeze dried

And so on …

Yet - I am completely preoccupied with my own life. Next week we’re planning to buy a new house and we’re busy boxing up our possessions for the move and fixing up our old shack to sell it.

Oh yeah - and I am finishing the last growler from the last keg of Gruffmeister 8 in Durham …

Togo is mourning the death of 21 supporters of the national football team, including Togolese Sports Minister Richard Attipoe, in a helicopter crash in Sierra Leone on Monday:

At least 21 people, most of them Togolese, were killed when the Russian-made Mi-8 helicopter operated by Paramount Airlines exploded and crashed late on Sunday at Lungi international airport, 13 km (8 miles) north of Freetown.

Initial reports had put the number of dead at 22, but Sierra Leone officials said the Russian pilot of the helicopter had survived. The cause of the accident was not immediately known.

The Togolese sports delegation had chartered the helicopter to return to the airport after attending an African Nations Cup soccer qualifying game played in the capital Freetown on Sunday between Sierra Leone and Togo. The visiting team had won 1-0.

Minister killed in ‘copter crash, CNN, June 4, 2007

(via Au Village) Our hearts go out to the Togolese people and to the families who lost loved ones in thi s terrible accident.

The Story is a syndicated radio show produced at WUNC in Chapel Hill. The show is hosted by Dick Gordon, who interviews people who have an interesting story to tell. Today, they aired the segment where Laura and Agbessi get to tell the story of the library in Yikpa, and the impact it had on their lifes.

Click to listen: mp3
The first part of the program is about a photographer - the interview with Laura and Agbessi starts after 32 Minutes.

The parliamentary elections in Togo have been postponed to August 5. This is probably a good thing because it give the parties in Togo time to prepare, but it also means that the RPT has more time to rig the vote.

Ouagadougou - Togo’s general election will be postponed from June 24 until August 5 due to technical, financial and human resources problems, officials said late Monday.

The Independent Electoral Commission of Togo (Ceni) announced after a meeting in Burkina Faso that a variety of problems had to be overcome before the vote could go ahead.

“Ceni notes that technical, logistical, financial and human constraints have to be dealt with before the electoral process can be properly carried out,” it said in a statement.

Togo’s Election Postponed, The Independent Online, South Africa, May 15, 2007

However, there are big questions whether all will be ready even at the later date. Especially there are serious concerns about the voting machines that apparently will be used. Between training poll workers to operate these machines and alleviating concerns about vote rigging using these machines, the election commission has a tall order to pull off a decent election even on the later date.

The Gulf of Aden separates the Horn of Africa from the Arabian Peninsula. Due to the desperate conditions, politically and economically, in Somalia and in Ethiopia, thousands of people from that region attempt to cross the Gulf of Aden to search for a better life in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Callous human traffickers exploit the desperate situation of their fellow human being, promising a passage across the sea for $40. They cram more than a hundred people in 30-foot wooden vessels and set out for the three-day passage. For three long, hellish days, these people are without drinking water, food or even room to move. They are seasick, cramped and dehydrated. The “crew” keeps their human “cargo” under control by beating them, and throwing anyone over board who as much as opens his mouth. When they get near the Yemeni shore, the refugees are forced to jump in the water and swim to shore. Most can’t swim and are exhausted and so many of these poor souls drown there, right at the shore.

Thousands have taken this hellish voyage, and in 2005 alone, the UN estimates that 1,700 lost their lives in this horrifying quest for a better destiny.

A courageous Frenchman, the journalist Daniel Grandclément got on one of these boats and filmed the conditions on board, witnessed the beatings and heard the screams in the night. His documentary was aired in April on French television, but it is also available on the web:

Part One - (narration in French) this documents the conditions on the boat. Not for the faint of heart.

Part Two - (narration in French) this is an eerie, night vision film of the arrival of the refugees on the shore of Yemen. A documentary film team filmed this footage, apparently it was pure coincidence that they were there at the time.

Daniel Grandclément was arrested by Yemeni authorities, and held for five days before being released. The Somalis are allowed to stay in Yemen as refugees. The Ethiopians have to find their way through the Arabian Desert to Saudi Arabia.

Francophones - faites attention! This is a hillarious story by a Belgian writer, DDL: The Great Satan and the paralyzed man. During a recent visit to Togo, DDL was apparently inspired by a story in the news about an incident between Satan and a pastor who was trying to destroy him (it?). Kagni Alem, a Togolese blogger based in France, posted this story (HT GVO). Here is a excerpt - Satan has arrived and everyone runs away - almost everyone …

Les croyants, donc, décampent au galop, à tire d’aile, comme si on leur avait administré un lavement avec une grosse poire en caoutchouc rouge enfoncée profondément dans l’anus… et qu’on leur avait « injecté » de l’eau savonneuse… ou un liquide à base d’ail, de gingembre et de piment…

Ils abandonnent sur place leur « berger »… tétanisé, gueule grande ouverte comme un canard migrateur qui, suite à une erreur de pilotage ou de navigation, se retrouverait au beau milieu d’un tempête de sable, dans une région désertique du nord du Burkina-Faso… aveugle, aphone, coi, figé, stupéfié, annihilé, décomposé, incapable de bouger et de produire un seul son… et, surtout, de comprendre ce qui lui arrive…

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Ablodé to our Togolese friends! Even though this is still more a rallying cry than a victory chant. Forty eight years ago Togo became an independent nation, relived from the yoke of French colonialism, only to become, after a few years, the playground of one of Africa’s original dictators, Etienne Gnassingé Eyadema.

Ablodé - freedom - was the rallying cry two years ago, when Eyadema died. A wave of hope washed over Togo and the diaspora. Many could not believe it at first -  that the “old man” really had died. Many hoped this was going to be a major turning point. Yet that hope turned out to be another mirage, when Eyadema’s son Faure was installed by the military. Even though the “international community” pushed the RPT regime to go through the motions of an election, freedom had nothing to do with it. The Gnassingbé clan remained firmly in control of the country when the military declared their “candidate” Faure Gnassingbé the winner exactly two years and a day ago.

Ablodé - freedom - remains elusive in Togo. When a people is stuck between an entrenched ruling clan of billionaires, a trigger-happy military, an exiled “opposition” of aging French lawyers and businessmen and an indifferent international community, how can the fragile buds of democracy and freedom take root? The only hope for freedom in Togo is for the Togolese people to find its own leaders. In the villages, the neighborhoods of Lomé, Kara and Dapaong, there are so many people with talent and understanding. The new leadership needs to come out of their own ranks, and it has to break down tribal and religious barriers. Togo needs credible uniters who will rally the people to the cause of the fight against corruption, mismanagement and nepotism, and for justice and Ablodé!

Today is Africa Malaria Day. Malaria is an ancient global killer, and in Africa, more than 3,000 children die each day from malaria (Red Cross). In order to raise awareness about Malaria, and what to do about it, the WHO’s Roll Back Malaria initiative issued a statement that expresses hope that global collaboration can finally make inroads against the plasmodium falciparum:

The progress in fighting malaria in the last few years offers great promise. After too many years of debate, there is now widespread agreement about what works for prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Resources to fight malaria have grown considerably. New spokespersons from the developing world and donor countries have begun to relay key messages. Corporations and multilaterals are working together to replenish the development pipeline and bridge the supply gap of essential prevention tools and treatments. Foundations and other donors have catalyzed investments in new technologies, such as new single dose Artemisinin-based combination Therapies (ACTs), and research into vaccines continues. Some afflicted countries are paving the way for reducing barriers created by import tariffs and malaria service user fees. The world has recognized the toll that malaria takes on the developing world and is poised to respond.

RBM - Malaria Community Statement

Togo is not a poor country. But sadly, few citizens of the small, West African nation share in whatever wealth this country produces. This is documented by the pathetic $1,600 per-capita GDP - a bit less than Haiti ($1,800) and a bit more than Afghanistan ($1,500) (sources: Wikipedia and CIA).

Nothing illustrates better the wealth of Togo than the lifestyle of those Togolese with their fingers in the pie. Like the gentleman in the picture, who is the Defense Minister of Togo, and who runs the Togolese state cotton production monopoly and the gold mining operations, and who’s twin brother runs the Mills of Togo. According to LeTogolais Monsieur Kpatcha recently treated himself to a new, comfortable mode of transportation: a Rolls Royce Phantom - and apparently not just one, or two, but - count ‘em (if you can) - three!! Three Rolls Royce Phantom - each for the tidy sum of € 300,000 ($340,000). And he probably also had Route Nationale No. 1 re-paved between Lomé and Kara, so his new ride won’t suffer.

Kpatcha Gnassingbé - yes, of course he is a Gnassingbé - is another son of Gnassinbé Eyadema, the former strongman of Togo. Apparently Kpatcha is locked in a struggle for power with his little brother Faure (the current president of Togo). This power struggle could be bad news for the Togolese people, because “when the elephants fight, the grass suffers.” The average Togolese has nothing to gain in this fight. If anything, Kpatcha may be worse, and less scrupulous than Faure. Let’s hope this struggle won’t be taken out on the backs of the average Togolese.

[update 4/23: see some more info about Kpatcha below the fold]

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In 1947, Ghana was the first nation in sub-Saharan Africa to shake the yoke of colonialism and take its destiny in it’s own hands. It joined a group of only seven other, independent African nations: Ethiopia, Liberia, Libya, Morocco, the Sudan, Tunisia, and Egypt (then known as the United Arab Republic). In 50 years of independence this vibrant nation has seen ups and downs, coups and counter-coups, but also long periods of political and economic stability. Today, this stronghold of Pan Africanism is a country permeated by a particular sense of independence and pride in its heritage. In the last 15 years, Ghana has had free elections and a peaceful government transition from Jerry Rawlings to John Kufuor. Ghana is far from perfect. But today this diverse nation is a hopeful example and a beachhead for democracy in West Africa.

Happy Birthday, Ghana!

[update 3/7: pictures of the parade and a report of Kufuors’ speech]

Jean-Sylvanus Olympio, the founder and CEO of the consulting firm Consultencia, won a prestigious French entrepreneurship award earlier this month in Paris. The chief geek himself, Bill Gates, handed the Master de la Création 2007 award to Olympio at the Salon des Entrepreneurs conference in front of 6000 people.

Video of the ceremony (via Togocity)

Video of an interview with Olympio after he received the award (via Le Togolais)

So who is Jean-Sylvanus Olympio? Clearly he is Togolese, and he bears a rather famous name: Sylvanus Olympio was the first president of Togo and he was asassinated in 1963 by Gnassinbé Eyadema, the father of the current president. Olympio’s son, Gilchrist is a prominent opposition leader. He tried to run for president several times, but he was bumped out of the race by the RPT on technicalities. It sounds like Jean-Sylvanus Olympio might be a son of Gilchrist and a grand-son of the first president. There is some speculatioin to that effect in the discussion of the Togocity story. I’ll keep digging to see if that is confirmed.

On Feb. 5, 2005, the Republic of Togo was thrown into turmoil when its ruler of 38 years, Gnassingbé Eyadema, unexpectedly died from a heart attack at age 68. His military quickly installed Eyadema’s son, Faure Gnassingbé as the successor of the “old man” - a move quickly denounced by most of the international community. After internal and external pressure, elections were held in April of 2005. Due to substantial intimidation and outright violence and fraud, the ruling RPT claimed victory for its “candidate” Faure. Thus it came to pass that Faure inherited the “family business” from his dad.

Now, two years after these dramatic and rather violent events, Togo appears to have changed quite a bit. Under Eyadema’s régime, fear and intimidation were the modus operandus of the public discourse. People who dared to speak out were harassed and often disappeared. Togolese commenting on the situation two years ago in blogs and forums often used pseudonyms and stayed anonymous, for fear of reprisals against their friends and family back home. In Togo, when discussing politics, great care was taken to avoid being overheard easily.

Today, that chill appears to have lifted somewhat. More people are willing to speak out and speak their mind in public. Yet, critics point out(fr) that many of the old power dynamics are still in place, and that much of the perceived liberalization is just window dressing. Interestingly, the official RPT-run government news website touts quite prominently the changes over the last two years, like the de-throning of Rock Gnassinbé from his cushy post as head of the Togolese Football Federation and the installation of prominent opposition figure Yawovi Agboyibo as Prime Minister. Agboybo ran for president twice, and he spent eight months in jail for defaming a former prime minister.

Despite the reformist rhetoric and the new website design, the republicoftogo.com website has hardly become a beacon of free speech and independent political analysis. Rather it is the same RPT rag, just under new management. The mouthpiece of a “kinder, gentler” RPT? Or maybe the RPT just abandoned its hard line approach to further the same basic end: power.

Presenting Faure as a new, pragmatic leader who promises both continuity and a more inclusive leadership is very much in the interest of all the real power brokers in Togo. Clearly, one of the key goals of this maneuvering is to restore economic aid from the European Union. This can only be accomplished with some reforms and acceptable elections. Another key goal for the RPT is to guarantee continuity to the foreign economic interests in Togo (China, France) and to reassure them that their investments are safest with Faure. Finally, France has a vital interest in re-establishing Togo as a pillar of its hegemony in West Africa. That can only be accomplished by maneuvering Togo back into the mainstream of West African politics. France has no interest in Togo as an isolated pariah in West Africa. And the Togolese military has no interest in France loosing interest in buying them new guns.

So is Togo truly changing? Is the RPT turning into a kinder, gentler dictatorship? In some ways it is - and therein does lie a chance for democratization in Togo. Faure is not the old man, he does not command the fear and authority Eyadema did. The RPT is loosening its grip on Togo. Probably for strategic reasons, to present Togo as a new, more enlightened country, in order to get economic aid restored. And finally, Chirac is a lame duck and until a new administration settles in in Paris, the influence of France on West Africa may also be somewhat diminished.

So the election this summer might just represent an opportunity to wrest power from the RPT. That is not a prediction - to be clear - I am not at all sure that the fractured, self-absorbed opposition in Togo has the wherewithall to pull that off. But I do think there may be an opportunity. Theat opportunity is not to legitimize the RPT and the Eyadema clan’s grip on power. It is the opportunity to wrest power from them and to give the Togolese people control over their destiny.

The official Togolese government news website reports that Stephen Keshi is currently in Lomé. Presumably the ex-coach of the Togolese national football team is talking with the Togolese Football Federation (FTF) about a job. The FTF is now under new management - its new president Tata was formally installed on Tuesday. A connection between the two events is quite probable.

Keshi, who celebrated his 46th birthday yesterday, coached the Eperviers when they qualified for the Worldcup in Germany last year, but then the team tanked during the African Cup and he was sacked right before the Togo’s first-ever Worldcup appearance. This sparked total chaos for the team and the management during the event and caused an embarrassing performance of the team in Germany - well below its potential. However, much more embarrassing was the inability of the FTF management to deal with the situation constructively.

According to the Togolese government news website, EU officials informed the Togolese ambassador to Belgium this weekend of the lifting of the 14-year-old aid embargo against Togo. The EU decision apparently also prompted the IMF to re-establish relations with the Togolese government - for what that’s worth.

The EU suspended all development aid to Togo in 1993, after President Eyadema’s troops brutally crushed the nascent political opposition to his oppressive military rule. Several thousand Togolese were killed by the military and by RPT death squads during the riots of 1992/93. But all the EU sanctions did was punish a suffering people by undermining Togo’s economy. The deteriorating economy created a massive brain-drain, as many Togolese left for what seemed like greener pastures abroad. That meant that young people with university education left the country, instead of organizing an effective opposition. So suspending aid most likely helped Eyadema, rather than hurt him. If the Europeans really wanted to put pressure on Eyadema, the French should have stopped their military support for the Eyadema regime.

The decision to resume aid to Togo comes after the current “national unity government” was formed last year, based on negotiations facilitated by the government of Burkina Faso. The talks in Ouagadougu resulted in a commitment to hold elections this year, several compromises re the eligibility requirements for presidential candidates, and a coalition government of the ruling RPT and the opposition Union of Forces for Change (UFC).

With Eyadema gone, and the French president Chiraq a “lame duckq,” maybe there is a chance for a democratic election in Togo, after all. If the French keep their sticky fingers OUT of Togo, and the EU and the AU send lots of observers to the polling stations, maybe the seed of democracy can finally sprout in Togo, this year. Still, we’re only talking about legislative elections this year. Extracting the Gnassinbé clan from the presidency and from its stranglehold on Togo will not happen overnight. But if the EU and the AU help the Togolese hold the ruling RPT and the military accountable, maybe there is hope. And a new French president might also help.

This is one of my favorite pictures from Yikpa - it captures a true Yikpa moment during the funeral of the old chief of the village of Yikpa-Anigbe in 1991. As the drums were rumbling in the background, and the men occasionally fire an old rifle into the air, the women gathered to burn herbs and say prayers for the deceased. Finally Mama Celi, the chief of the women, put some herbs on the fire, and as the pungent, aromatic smoke filled the air, she slowly dances to the drums and recites with great intensity a powerful prayer for the old man.

I use this photo on my homepage and on the “Yikpa Spirits” page, because it nicely illustrates the sense of spirituality in the village. The smoke and the light illustrate the ancient mysticism of the traditions. The serious faces of the women and Mama Celis posture reflect the intensity of the moment and the depth of their faith.

Last weekend I got an email from a guy at a film production company who asked me if they can use the picture in a documentary film about the tradition of Mardi Gras Indians in New Orleans, LA. The image will be used to illustrate some of the cultural traditions that have influenced the African-American Mardi Gras Indian tradition. Sure, I don’t see a problem with them using the picture in this context.

In fact, I think it’s pretty cool that they picked this image. Sounds like a great film project - I hope I’ll get to see the film when its done.