They demand that President Gnassingbé release political prisoners and a general amnesty for exiled opponents
15 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Dynamique Monseigneur Kpodzro (DMK) group, the main “umbrella” group of the Togolese opposition, was able to hold its first meeting this past Saturday after two years of bans due to the pandemic or security reasons.
The meeting of the DMK, which brings together seven opposition parties and six civil society groups, has been held to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the assassination of President Sylvanus Epiphanio Olympio during the 1963 coup.
After their meeting, the DMK has launched a declaration of principles in which they pledge to “fight to the last drop of our blood, so that Togo can be reborn”, in a message directed against the current president, Faure Gnassingbé.
“The actors of Togolese sociopolitical life and their partner the DMK wish the Togolese people and the latter, in the name of the year 2023, the end of the military dictatorship in Togo and the national re-foundation,” they add in their statement, collected by the Ici portal lome.
Similarly, the opposition demands “the release of all political and opinion detainees who languish in the prisons of the regime” of the UNIR (Union for the Republic, the president’s party) as well as “the signing of a general amnesty that allows the peaceful return of all political exiles and refugees in Togo”.
The DMK declaration comes at a critical moment for the security of Togo, after the president decreed in December the integration of the Ministry of Defense in his powers as head of state within the increase in jihadist violence in the north of the African country.
Togo was relatively safe until recently from the jihadist violence that has ravaged its northern neighbor, Burkina Faso, and other countries in the Sahel region for most of the last decade.
The Sahel area in particular, and now increasingly the Gulf of Guinea, has become a priority for al Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates operating in the region, which has seen a significant increase in attacks since the year 2015.
