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Togo remains tense; German culture center torched

Togolese residents of Lome look through the windows of the Library of the Goethe Institute German cultural center, after it was torched in Lome, Togo on Friday. The center promoted cultural exchange with Germany who first colonized Togo in 1884. A group of heavily armed men stormed into the center before dawn on Friday detaining guards at gunpoint while the attackers fired shots and burned the main library in the latest violence racking the country since disputed presidential elections. PHOTO: EPA

Black-clad, masked assailants torched a German cultural center in crisis-hit Togo, while the man officially named winner of violently contested presidential elections vowed not to let the country slip into civil war.

Opposition coordinator Yawovi Agboyibo claimed Friday that 100 people were killed and more than 300 wounded by government loyalists and security forces in violence that erupted after Sunday's poll. The claim could not be independently verified and government officials could not be reached for comment.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has said at least 11 people were killed nationwide this week and at least 100 wounded. The government has confirmed another 11 dead.

Agboyibo said the toll was collected from opposition officials across the country. He said the government bused about 3,000 armed loyalists from the interior to Lome to help crack down on opposition supporters.

Faure Gnassingbe, official winner of Sunday's vote, denounced the attacks of recent days and assured the world that Togo was not on the fast track to civil war -- long the destructive route of its West African neighbors.

"I have confidence in the forces of order and security and, most of all, in the political maturity and good sense of the Togolese," Gnassingbe said in remarks published Friday.

"I do not think Togo will tip into civil war," he told French daily Le Monde. "Not, at least, as long as I am at the head of this country."

Opposition leaders in Togo insisted Gnassingbe's ruling party rigged the elections and preordained a victory for Gnassingbe, the son of Togo's late dictator who died Feb. 5.

Tuesday's announcement of Gnassingbe's win sparked two days of clashes.

Daytime violence subsided Thursday in the capital, Lome, but overnight assailants had attacked a German institute promoting cross-cultural exchange -- the latest post-election violence that targeted foreigners.

The attack on the Goethe Institute in the Togolese capital was well-executed, the center's Director Herwig Kempf said.

The gunmen, dressed all in black and wearing masks, forced their way inside the center's steel gates and beat two guards before sending them running away, Kempf said, citing the guards' accounts. The gunmen then opened fire on the white, art-deco building and set fire to the first-floor library. The fire engulfed most of the building.

Gunmen also torched a van parked in the courtyard, as well as a large toolshed. No one was injured in the attack, though damage was estimated at several hundred US dollars.

Through films, book-lending and language lessons, the Goethe Institute promotes cultural exchange between Togo and Germany, Togo's one-time colonial master.

Talk had been swirling of an attack on a German institution since Togo's former Interior Minister Francois Boko fled to the German Embassy on April 22, Kempf said. Boko had been dismissed after calling for the weekend elections to be canceled for fear of bloodshed.
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