Togolese security services fired teargas late Thursday night to disperse thousands of protesters in the streets of the capital Lome who were determined to stay all night to demand the departure of President Faure Gnassingbe.

The police succeeded in dispersing the crowd who have been demonstrating since Wednesday demanding the revision of the 1992 Constitution to reintroduce presidential term limits.

The protesters marched to the presidency late afternoon where the police had cordoned off the area to prevent access.

After some hours, the police fired teargas to disperse the people who had pitched camp on the main road leading to the presidency, local media report.

Some protesters are reported to have returned to the spot early Friday morning after the repression by the police.

The two-day protest called by the six-party opposition coalition CAP 2015 and the Pan-African National Party (PNP), is a follow up of the massive August 19 and 20 demonstration that saw Togolese nationals in about half a dozen cities around the world joining in.

At least seven people were killed in clashes with security forces during last month’s demonstration in the north of the capital Lome.

27 people were arrested and 15 were handed sentences ranging between five and nine months.

The government on Wednesday passed a draft bill to modify Article 59 of the constitution which will address the concerns of the protesters including the reintroduction of presidential term limits.

Internet was shutdown during the two days of planned protests and mobile phone connectivity was unstable.

The opposition protesters have vowed to continue the protests until the original two five-year term limits are restored including a two-ballot system, reform of the Constitutional Court and the Electoral Commission.

President Faure Gnassingbe succeeded his father Gnassingbe Eyadema who died of a heart attack after spending 38 years in office.

Faure was sworn in with the support of the army and won the 2005 elections leading to deadly protests.

He subsequently won the 2010 and 2015 presidential elections. Faure’s mandate ends in 2020 and it is unclear if he will stand again for re-election. </s> Lome - Thousands of people in Togo took to the streets on Wednesday to demand presidential term limits as anger grows in the small West African nation over the 50-year-rule of the Gnassingbe family.

Internet service was down and phone connections were sporadic, but that didn't stop the scheduled demonstrations aimed at preventing President Faure Gnassingbe from running for a fourth term in 2020 elections.

Security forces killed at least two people and injured several others during similar demonstrations in August, Amnesty International said. Dozens were sent to prison for up to 60 months, according to the human rights group.

The government condemned the August protests, with the interior minister calling them extremist.

A coalition of opposition parties called for the demonstrations. While Gnassingbe has not said he would run again in 2020, the opposition National Panafrican Party has said it suspects he will not quit power unless compelled to step down.

Gnassingbe's father, Eyadema, ruled for 38 years until his death in 2005. Before his death, he modified the constitution to extend his rule. The constitution had allowed for only two presidential terms.

"We have been asking for political reforms since Faure Gnassingbe came to power in 2005 but he managed to dodge us since then," said Tikpi Atchadam, who leads the National Panafrican Party. "Now we are simply demanding a return to the 1992 constitution."

Wednesday's protests took place in the capital, Lome, and in other cities as well as in Ghana and Gabon.

The government announced late on Tuesday that it had drafted a constitutional amendment for the limitation of mandates, calling it an initiative "to favor the preservation of a climate of peace and serenity."

Two years ago a similar bill was rejected in Parliament, where the ruling party holds a majority of seats.

"(The president) can deceive us once or twice, but he is not going to deceive us again this time around," said opposition leader Jean Pierre Fabre, who led Wednesday's protests. </s> LOME, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Security forces in Togo fired teargas on Saturday to disperse thousands of protesters calling for an end to the Gnassingbe family dynasty, which has ruled the West African nation for five decades.

President Faure Gnassingbe has been in power since the death in 2005 of his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who had been at the helm for 38 years.

Wearing the red colours of the opposition PNP party, chanting and singing "50 years is too long!", the demonstrators in Lome called for the reinstatement of the constitution limiting terms that Eyadema introduced in response to protests in 1992.

"We do not understand our little Togo," said demonstrator Ali Boukari. "The father Eyadema was in power for 38 years, his son will soon have done 15 years. All we are demanding is a term limit and they shoot (tear gas) at us."

The 1992 constitution brought in notional multi-party democracy after decades of dictatorship, and limited presidential terms to two, but ten years later lawmakers amended it to enable Eyadema to run for another term - a common pattern in Africa.

Then, when he died, the military effectively tore up the constitution by installing his son as interim president, instead of the head of the national assembly, as was legally required.

The protests that followed Faure Gnassingbe's first election victory in 2005 triggered a violent security crackdown in which around 500 people were killed.

"We are protesting against the arbitrary nature of governance and denial of freedom to assemble," PNP leader Tikpi Atchadam said. </s> LOME (Reuters) - Two protesters were killed and 13 others wounded in Togo on Saturday when security forces opened fire to break up demonstrations against the ruling Gnassingbe family dynasty, the security ministry said.

President Faure Gnassingbe has been in power in the West African country since the death in 2005 of his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who had been at the helm for 38 years.

Wearing the red colors of the opposition PNP party, chanting and singing “50 years is too long!”, thousands of demonstrators in the capital Lome called for the reinstatement of the constitution limiting terms that Eyadema introduced in response to protests in 1992.

Security forces fired tear gas to disperse them.

But in a parallel protest in Sokode, 210 miles (338 km) north of the capital, clashes erupted and Togolese forces used live bullets.

The security ministry said that apart from the casualties among protesters 12 gendarmes had also been wounded.

“We do not understand our little Togo,” said demonstrator Ali Boukari. “The father Eyadema was in power for 38 years, his son will soon have done 15 years. All we are demanding is a term limit and they shoot (tear gas) at us.”

The 1992 constitution brought in notional multi-party democracy after decades of dictatorship, and limited presidential terms to two, but ten years later lawmakers amended it to enable Eyadema to run for another term - a common pattern in Africa.

Then, when he died, the military effectively tore up the constitution by installing his son as interim president, instead of the head of the national assembly, as was legally required.

The protests that followed Faure Gnassingbe’s first election victory in 2005 triggered a violent security crackdown in which around 500 people were killed.

“We are protesting against the arbitrary nature of governance and denial of freedom to assemble,” PNP leader Tikpi Atchadam said. </s> LOME (Reuters) - Togo security forces fired tear gas at hundreds of anti-government protesters carrying out a late night sit-in at an intersection in central Lome as part of a bid to end the 50-year-old Gnassingbe family dynasty, witnesses said on Thursday.

A man holds up a sign which reads, "leave the power", during opposiition protest to call for the immediate resignation of President Faure Gnassingbe in Lome, Togo, September 7, 2017. REUTERS/Noel Kokou Tadegnon

The move to disperse the crowds comes after two days of mass country-wide protests involving tens of thousands of people that have amounted to the biggest challenge to Faure Gnassingbe’s rule since he succeeded his late father 12 years ago.

In the past, security forces have violently suppressed protests, killing at least two people during an opposition march in August and hundreds after the contested election in which Gnassingbe took power in 2005.

But up until late on Thursday, police officers armed with batons had watched passively at protesters wearing the red, pink and orange T-shirts of the opposition, who danced and blew whistles as they wound through the streets of the capital Lome.

It was not immediately clear how the opposition would respond to the security forces’ intervention with tear gas late on Thursday. The head of the main ANC opposition party, Jean-Pierre Fabre, had earlier pledged to remain seated on the tarmac of the Dekon crossroads until Gnassingbe left power.

“We want the end of this 50-year-old Gnassingbe regime. Enough is enough,” Kodjo Amana, a 42-year-old baker, shouted over a chanting crowd earlier in the day.

The protests in the West African country of 8 million people have proceeded despite widespread reports of network outages confirmed by non-governmental organization Internet Without Borders. Other African incumbents in Gabon and Cameroon have used network cuts to control criticism and suppress protests at sensitive times.

Residents said that text messages had also been blocked on Thursday. The communications minister could not be reached for comment, although another minister said earlier this week that the cuts had been carried out for security reasons.

“VERY FRAGILE”

The president’s father Gnassingbe Eyadema seized power in a coup in 1967, a few years after the territory known as “French Togoland” that was once in German hands became independent from colonial power France.

The current president this week sought to appease opponents by tabling a draft bill to reform the constitution and reintroduce a two-term limit that his father scrapped in 2002.

But opposition leaders are skeptical about the implementation of the reforms that the government has stalled on for more than a decade and Prime Minister Komi Selom Klassou confirmed on Thursday that the term limits would not apply retroactively.

That could mean that Gnassingbe, 51 and currently in his third term, could remains in power for two more mandates from the next election, until 2030.

Gnassingbe sent a Tweet from his official account on Thursday, saying that he had met with the U.N. Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel, Mohammed Ibn Chambas, on the subject of reforms. A spokesman for the latter confirmed the meeting without elaborating on its content.

State TV said Thursday evening that parliament, which still needs to approve the bill, will meet for an emergency session on September 12.

However, if the protests resume, analysts say Gnassingbe may find himself isolated amid growing criticism of autocratic rule in West Africa.

“The president’s position is very fragile and we do not think his peers in ECOWAS or his friends in Europe will help him if things get ugly,” said the head of research at NKC African Economics, Francois Conradie.

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Togo, a regional financial hub that aspires to be an African Singapore, is at odds with West African neighbors which mostly have laws restricting presidential mandates.

The government, along with Gambia’s, voted in 2015 against introducing them across the 15 members of the ECOWAS regional body which Gnassingbe currently chairs. Since then, Gambia’s longtime leader Yahya Jammeh has been voted out of power.

African rulers, notably in Rwanda, Burundi and Burkina Faso, have moved to drop term limits in recent years in order to remain in power. In some cases this has sparked strong opposition that has led to violent unrest; in others, leaders have been driven from power, as happened in Burkina Faso. </s> Togo’s Security forces are still trying to quell anti-Gnassingbe protests that erupted in the capital Lome, Saturday, with parallel demonstrations in Sokode, Togo, and Ghana’s capital Accra.

So far two protesters have been reported killed and 13 others wounded after the security forces opened fire to break up demonstrations against the ruling Gnassingbe family dynasty.

The demonstrators are demanding the country’s return to its 1992 Constitution which allowed multi-party democracy with a limited Presidential term of office; as many of them sang and chanted “50 years is too long”.

They also accuse the President of superintending over corruption in the country.

President Faure Gnassingbe has been in power since 2005 when his father, Eyadema Gnassingbe, died. His father had ruled the country for 38 years.

But the demonstrators say they are demanding “good elections with real results”, according to Civil Society member and Coordinator of the National Platform for Social Universities, Prof. David Dosseh.

Though the demonstrations were started by the main opposition PNP, CAP 2015, a coalition of five smaller opposition parties, and another coalition of six other smaller opposition parties, have both expressed support for the demonstrations.

“The military is said to have been deployed with many checkpoints erected following this support in fears that the demonstration may escalate in the coming hours”, Prof Dosseh said.

President Faure Gnassingbe is however yet to speak on the demonstrations and the killings. </s> The Togolese government has passed a draft bill to reintroduce presidential term limits as hundreds of protesters gather in the capital Lome and other towns.

The cabinet said in a statement after its decision on Tuesday night that the bill will modify Article 59 of the constitution which will address the concerns of the protesters.

The decision by the government comes hours before the planned mass protest called by the six-party opposition coalition CAP 2015 and the Pan-African National Party (PNP).

The protesters were demanding for the revision of the 1992 Constitution whose Article 59 was modified in 2002 allowing Faure Gnassingbe to run for an unlimited term.

They want the original two five-year term limit be restored, a two-ballot system, reform of the Constitutional Court and the Electoral Commission.

A day before the protest, internet connectivity was barred yet unconfirmed images of the protests were posted online showing thousands of people marching in the streets of the capital Lome, northern city of Bafilo, Tchamba in the north among other towns.

Togolese activist Farida Nabourema in a twit said “ some Togolese go to the border where Ghana’s telecommunication networks are accessible to transmit post updates of the protest online” </s> Ho, Aug. 20, GNA - Nine persons, two civilians and seven security personnel are reported to have lost their lives in fresh political protests at Atakpame-Sokode in the Republic of Togo on Saturday.

The security clashed with hundreds of civilians demonstrating against changes in the Togolese Constitution, which they claim allowed presidents to remain in power 'forever' until voted out.

Two civilians were earlier shot dead allegedly in an attempt by the security to dispel the demonstrators.

The civilians reacted by burning security vehicles and killing seven security men.

Sources close to the Border Security Committee (BODSEC) told the Ghana News Agency that some demonstrators were picked by the police for questioning.

Similar protests took place worldwide, with demonstrators calling for the country to go back to its 1992 Constitution, which gave presidents two terms of four years to be in office.

Meanwhile, the country's main frontier, Lome-Aflao Border remains opened with no disruption in socioeconomic activities. </s> The fight for democracy in Africa is, these days, centred on the tiny, oil-rich country of Gabon. It is not a new fight, by any means. In 2009, after the death of longtime leader Omar Bongo – who had ruled the former French colony for more than 40 years – riots broke out in several cities when it was announced that his son, Ali Bongo, was slated to become the next president. Opposition leaders called foul after presidential election results were announced, and they attempted to organise a nationwide strike. Now, seven years on, Ali Bongo has run up against a new, wider wave of protests, after he claimed he had won re-election, on 27 August, with a lead of just over 5,000 votes in a nation of 1.8 million. Street clashes with police led to several deaths. Opposition supporters set fire to the parliament building. Yet Mr Bongo remains defiant. He has accused his critics of attempting a coup and he has rejected calls for a recount of votes and even for election results to be published in detail. At one point he had his main opponent, Jean Ping, who says the election is being stolen, placed under house arrest. There were also government efforts to impose a media blackout, including by cutting off the internet. The situation on the streets has since eased, but tensions still run high in this central African country.

Gabon’s crisis is watched closely by France and neighbouring African states. France has a key military base as well as important economic interests in the region and has called for a recount, but it wants to be careful not to appear to meddle directly for fear of being accused of neocolonial reflexes. Whether outside mediation can help resolve a situation where two men, Mr Bongo and Mr Ping, both claim to be the legally elected president will now be put to the test: the African Union announced this week that it would send a delegation to Gabon.

None of this is made easier by the complex web of family ties that have long stood at the heart of Gabonese politics. Mr Ping, 73 years old, a former president of the African Union commission, was one of Omar Bongo’s closest and longest-serving ministers and married one of his daughters. He now describes Gabon as “a dictatorship pure and simple, run by a clan” – a “dynastic regime” that must be ended. But there is hardly any doubt that he has solid reasons to complain about vote manipulation. A mission of European Union observers said there were “obvious anomalies”. Mr Ping hopes international pressure will bear down on Mr Bongo, who clearly believes time is on his side because no external player is ready to consider anything like outright intervention.

Many of Gabon’s citizens certainly want its political course to change. Its population is poor and the economy has slumped with the fall of global oil prices. Families struggle for food day to day. Mr Bongo’s rule has been tainted by many allegations of corruption, not least the ownership of luxury cars and apartments in Paris. Gabon has only had three presidents since its independence in 1960. Mr Bongo, 57, may have tried to project the image of a younger leader, but his repressive methods are fast placing him in the same category as other strongmen who hang on to power as if mandates were for life. The unrest that has broken out reflects deep-seated popular anger. Gabon’s civil society, like those elsewhere in Africa, wants its voice to be heard, and democratic procedures to be respected. The votes should be recounted.
For the second consecutive day, hundreds of thousands of Togolese protest against President Faure Gnassingbé's 50-year family dynasty. Parliament is set to consider presidential term limits when it reconvenes in October.