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.
PHOTO: EPA
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.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese