With over 200 Marburg virus deaths in Angola, an all out information campaign is now under way, Reuters reports:”Five TV and radio advertisements in both the official language Portuguese and the most widely spoken local languages were broadcast throughout the day on national media.” Reuters also reports that so far 203 of the 221 infected […]

The BBC reports that the demonstrators were demanding a delay of the April 24 presidential election. According to LeTogolais, the demonstrators demanded transparent and fair elections. The article quotes representatives of the opposition as saying that the way the preparations are going and with the short time until the elections, there is no way the […]

Togo’s exiled opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio returned to Lomé Saturday, after eight years in exile. He was greeted by thousands of cheering Togolese who want to see an end to the 38-year bloody military rule of the family of the late Gnassingbe Eyadema. “This is the only man that can save the country,” people said […]

The six Togolese opposition parties came together and nominated Bob Akitani as their single candidate to run against “Baby Eyadema” Faure Gnassingbe in the April presidential election. The 74-year-old retired mining engineer is vice-president of Olympio’s UFC and is well-known from his last presidential run in 2003. It took the six parties a while to […]

This is a funny story turning weird: yesterday I chuckled, when I read the report that the president of Malawi, Bingu wa Mutharika, had abandoned his 300-room residence because he was worried about “rodent ghosts” haunting the place. These things happen; many Africans are very worried about supernatural phenomena. Ancestral spirits are an integral part […]

With pomp and circumstance Togo held the funeral for Gnassingbe Eyadema on Sunday. A giant portrait of Eyadema, with the words “I will always be with you”, overlooked Lome’s marbled Palais des Congres building where dignitaries had gathered to receive the coffin. Yes, he’ll remain with us as an example of the bad old times […]

Presidential elections in Togo are set for next month with Faure Gnassingbe as the candidate of the ruling RPT (aka Eyadema’s party). Gilchrist Olympio, the leader of the opposition UFC, can not legally contest the polls, since he was forced to live in exile after an assassination attempt in 1992. Hopefully the opposition in Togo […]

The Grande Dame of African music, Miriam Makeba, celebrates her birthday today. She lent her gorgeous voice many times to the people, as she spoke out against apartheid and for ciivil rights, and was heard in Carnegie Hall as well as at the United Nations. More about Mriam Makeba: music.org.za miriammakeba.co.za leopardmannen.no wikipedia.org

The 2005 edition of Africa’s most important film festival, the FESPACO in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, is under way (Feb. 26 – March 5). Twenty films compete for the grand prize: The Stallion of Yennenga. FESPACO 2005 is celebrating 50 years of African Cinema. The first truly African film – a film made by Africans about […]

Opposition activists in Togo have scored a victory with the resignation of Faure Gnassingbe, but their work is not done. There were more protests in Lomé, demanding the full restoration of constitutionality of the government. And in the Togolese police reacted in the predictable way, with teargas and violence. With Faures retreat, Abass Bonfoh, became […]

This is good news for Togo! Faure Gnassingbe finally relented and stepped down, yesterday. Now the speaker of the parliament, Abass Bonfoh, has replaced “Baby Eyadema.” This puts Togo back into compliance with the original, pre-coup constitution. The good news is that now the sanctions against Togo have been lifted and there should be elections […]

The Diastode website published a detailed legal analysis of the constitutionality (or rather lack of it) of the installation of Faure Gnassingbe as the Togolese head of state. The analysis, by the human rights academic DR Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua, concludes that the international community has to stand up against the illegal acts of the Togolese military […]

After all, Faure Gnassingbe gave in to the pressure, and announced that there will be presidential elections within 60 days in Togo, the BBC reports. Sounds like Ecowas will send election observers.

The Togolese army may yield to intense pressure from Togo’s neighbors,the BBC reports. If the rumors are true that elections will soon be held in Togo, it will be a very positive and hopeful sign for democracy and human rights in West Africa. That is, provided the elections are free, and are monitored carefully by […]

Eight thousand protesters in Paris braved a chilly, windy day in Paris to protest the coup d’état in Togo, Le Togolais reports (in French). 300 protest in Abidjan In Togo, more demonstrators were killed in clashes with the police.

In violent clashes in the Bé neighborhood of Lomé three protesters were shot dead by Togolese police, and dozens wounded, South Africa’s Independent Online reports.

With regional powerhouse Nigeria in the lead, West African nations are increasing the pressure on Togo’s leadership, while an opposition rally in Lome is violently broken up by Togolese police. OCHA IRIN and the BBC report that officials from ECOWAS and the African Union are denouncing the recent coup in Togo sharply. The tensions increased, […]

President Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo died yesterday at age 69. He was one of the original African dictators of the post-colonial era. This is his legacy in a nutshell: Born to a peasant family in northern Togo, the young Sergeant Eyadema seized power in 1967 after staging one of Africa’s first coups soon after Togo […]