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Misanet.com / IPS, 23 February - The reports of hundreds of extrajudicial executions in Togo in 1998, especially targeting activists of the African country's political opposition, deserve a closer look, announced the international investigative commission by the UN and OAU on Thursday. The perpetrators of the executions and of other human rights violations - the victims of which also involved individuals accused of petty crimes - are reportedly members of the government security forces, the policy and militias. Presiding the International Commission of Inquiry for Togo, established by the United Nations and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), is Mahamat Hassan Abakar, of Chad. The commission also includes Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, of Brazil, and Niger's Issaka Souna. The rights violations perpetrated in the African country involve extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, the torture and mistreatment of arrestees, as well as the rape and abduction of women in several regions. The commission's report, released Thursday in Geneva, also denounces that rural women were raped in front of their spouses by members of armed militias who were encouraged by the current prime minister of Togo, Agbeyome Kodjo. The same militias are believed responsible for kidnapping women who were then handed over to other groups in exchange for money, and for looting victims' homes during their night-time raids, says the text. The police and local administrative authorities, despite receiving word of these incidents, have taken no action, which prompted the rural residents to denounce the situation before the Togolese League for Human Rights, said the inquiry body. The report indicates that 12 women, ages 12 to 40, were raped at the Yoto prefecture, but that no legal action of any kind had been initiated, despite the victims' denunciations. The commission's findings are based on investigations conducted in Togo, Benin and Ghana in November and December 2000. The original allegation about the extrajudicial executions in Togo was presented by the human rights watchdog Amnesty International in its May 5, 1999, report, titled "Togo: Rule of Terror." The London-based human rights defence group maintains that in June 1998, during the presidential election campaign and following the announcement of the election results, hundreds of people, including military personnel, were the victims of extrajudicial executions. Amnesty adds that numerous bodies were found along the beaches of Togo and of neighbouring Benin. Bodies were also seen floating in the sea over a period of at least four days. An Amnesty delegation interviewed several people in both countries, including members of the fishing community, and Togolese farmers who had been working in the fields at the time. The individuals interviewed mentioned that there was an unusually intense movement of airplanes and helicopters in the area, and that they flew at low altitudes over the ocean. The testimonies indicate that some bodies were handcuffed and others had military uniforms. A fisherman said that eight km out from Agoué, in Benin, there were hundreds of bodies floating in the water. Another fisherman reported that some of the bodies had bullet wounds visible. The fate of the country has been in the hands of President Gnassingbe Eyadema, who took power through a military coup in 1967. A 1998 US State Department document states that "Eyadema used his entrenched position to repress genuine opposition and to secure another five-year term in an election held on June 21, 1998 which, like previous multiparty elections, was marred by systematic fraud." In Togo, throughout 1998, human rights were methodically violated, concludes the UN and OAU inquiry commission. The group calls for establishing a climate in that country that is favourable to human rights and for clearing up the reported incidents, as well as identifying and bringing to trial the perpetrators of the rights violations, especially of the massive executions. The body also suggests the designation of a team of forensic medical experts to exhume and study the bodies of the victims that were buried in Togo and Benin. Such an investigation, says the commission, would help identify the victims and verify the causes of death. The International Commission of Inquiry for Togo recommends that the UN Commission on Human Rights, which is slated to meet in Geneva March 19 to April 27, designate a special rapporteur entrusted with monitoring the human rights situation of the African country. By Gustavo Capdevila, IPS
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