Togo Agrees to Talks With Opposition After Two-Month Protest

LOME (Capital Markets in Africa) – Togo is preparing to hold talks with opposition parties in the West African nation after two months of protests that left several people dead, government spokesman Ihou Yao Atigbe said in a statement he read on state-owned Television TVT.

The government also announced the release of 42 opposition supporters arrested during the protests in September and October.

“The government therefore hopes that all this will lead the political parties to act with responsibility and to work for the national interest, peace and national cohesion,” Atigbe said.

Political tension has run high in the nation of 8 million people since parliament adopted legislation to limit the number of presidential terms to two and change the voting system, paving the way for a national referendum. A coalition of opposition parties has rejected the proposal because changes to the constitution aren’t retroactive and would enable President Faure Gnassingbe to extend his rule by at least 10 years.

Gnassingbe has governed Togo since the 2005 death of his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who seized power in a 1967 coup.