Togo: Children suffering most in post-poll exodus

[struggle4progress]

30 May 2005 13:39:28 GMT
Source: IRIN

<snip> "My parents took part in demonstrations after the elections, and they became frightened and left," the teenager said.

Like thousands of other opposition supporters, Alex's parents took to the streets in outrage after the 24 April poll legitimised a disputed father-to-son transition.

Faure Gnassingbe, the son of Gnassingbe Eyadema who ruled Togo for 38 years until his death last February, was declared winner of the poll the opposition says was rigged.

Opposition protests were brutally put down by the security forces in the days immediately following the election results. And residents in both Aneho and the capital Lome say the crackdown against opponents has continued ever since, often quietly in the dead of night. <snip>

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/b1c739a687635943b63bcdc641a27311.htm