   |
|
afrol.com, 8 February - The Amnesty International report "Togo: Rule of Terror" was published one and a half year ago, documenting gross human rights violations in Togo, is still creating a stir. On Tuesday, Togolese interior minister General Sizing Walla claimed the human rights organisation had been bribed by the opposition. "Utterly ridiculous," says Amnesty International. Amnesty International yesterday described allegations that it had accepted a bribe as "utterly ridiculous and deeply insulting to the victims of Togolese terror." The organization's Secretary General Pierre Sané branded Togolese interior minister General Sizing Walla, who made the accusation yesterday, "a desperate man employing the tactics of a desperate government." General Walla claimed that the human rights organization had received a US$ 500,000 payment from Togolese opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio in return for writing a report that was critical of human rights standards in Togo. - These false allegations are designed to distract people from the systematic violation of human rights and the culture of impunity in Togo, Pierre Sané added. "It is a tactic with which we have become familiar, and one which can only be described as pathetic." A Joint Commission of Inquiry was set up by the United Nations (UN) and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to investigate the claims made by Amnesty International in its 1999 report 'Togo: Rule of Terror'. The Commission is due to publish its findings in the very near future and Amnesty International believes that Walla's accusations demonstrate panic within a Togolese government faced with the prospect of damning findings. Napoleon Abdulai of the UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Lomé concluded that the Togolese government had "been cooperative with the probe" by UN/OAU Joint Commision when it left the country for further investigations in Benin in November. Togo itself had called for the international investigation into the reported killings. 'Togo: Rule of Terror', published in May 1999, found that hundreds of civilians and soldiers had been the victims of extrajudicial executions, ill-treatment and torture. During an investigative visit an Amnesty International delegation had been told of unusual movements of helicopters sometimes flying at low level altitude out to sea. Bodies were retrieved from the beaches of Togo and Benin and corpses were seen at sea. Immediately after 'Togo: Rule of Terror' was published, the Togolese government described it as "a pack of lies" and "an attempt by an interested party to misinform the public." The government subsequently ordered the arrest of local human rights defenders - including Amnesty International members - who were suspected of having provided information for the report. Some were tortured, while others fled the country fearing for their lives. The Togolese authorities then instigated legal proceedings against Pierre Sané. - The only incentive Amnesty International needed to compile this evidence and write this report was the desire to reveal the appalling standard of human rights in Togo, added Mr Sané. "To say we were bribed is deeply offensive to the victims and to the courageous researchers who compiled this report." The allegations of bribery are not new. Last November, the Joint Commission of Inquiry received letters purportedly from Mr Gilchrist Olympio, in which he purportedly offered Pierre Sané payments totalling US$ 500,000 in relation to the Amnesty International report. When informed of these allegations, Pierre Sané wrote to the Commission of Inquiry categorically denying that he ever received any payment whatsoever from Mr Olympio or anyone else from Togo. Mr Olympio, leader of the Union For Change, also has dismissed the allegations and has initiated legal proceedings against the government. Amnesty International also wrote, on 10 January 2001, to the UN secretary General Kofi Annan and the OAU Secretary General Salim Ahmed Salim urging them to make public the soonly expected report of the Joint Commission of Inquiry, and to ensure the protection of witnesses. Togo is experiencing one of the roughest human rights climates on the African continent. Some democratic changes were put in place in Togo in the early 1990s as a new constitution, approved in a referendum in 1992, opened the way to political pluralism and a degree of freedom of expression. However, it has so far failed to prevent serious human rights violations from continuing. Repression has been especially harsh around the last two elections. After the results were announced in the June 1998 presidential election, hundreds of people, including members of the military, were killed by the security forces. Corpses were washed up on the beaches of Togo and neighbouring Benin for days afterwards. Arbitrary detentions, torture and ill-treatment - sometimes resulting in deaths - and extremely harsh prison conditions also form part of this disturbing pattern of organized repression which has developed over many years - a rule of terror. Sources: Based on Amnesty International and afrol archives
|
