Togo-How to relaunch the struggle for the liberation of the country in 2022: Getting organized without Faure Gnassingbé and his sniffer agents

In a press release, the Coordination Network of the Independent Togolese Diaspora (RCDTI) and the Collective for the Truth of the Urns – Togo – Diaspora (CVU-Togo-Diaspora) comment on the socio-political situation of the country. These two associations invite the Togolese to redirect the fight to free the regime of Faure Gnassingbé. Reading.

Communiqué of January 10, 2022 addressed to the Togolese people

Network for the Coordination of the Independent Togolese Diaspora (RCDTI) and Collective for the Truth of the Urns – Togo – Diaspora (CVU-Togo-Diaspora)

The Coordination Network of the independent Togolese Diaspora and the Collective for the Truth of the Togo-Diaspora Ballot Boxes (RCDTI and CVU-TOGO-DIASPORA) formulate to all the Togolese people, those inside and outside , their wishes for 2022 for increased awareness and a return to political, economic, social, cultural and spiritual health in Togo.

RCDTI and CVU-TOGO-DIASPORA call for unity for a political alternative, specifying in order to remove any ambiguity, that the chosen approach systematically excludes agents dependent on and/or working for the Gnassingbé system, in real or in mysticism.

RCDTI and CVU-TOGO-DIASPORA invite all those who work in this direction to make written proposals to enrich those that have already been made publicly and those that are being developed by us. Indeed, the Togolese people always aspire to recover their freedom, their economic independence and to live under a democratic regime based on the truth of the ballot boxes and the truth of the public accounts. Unfortunately, the true friends of the Togolese people who aspire to their independence and the freedom to choose their leaders are not those one might have thought.

1. The Friends of the Togolese People Are Not Who You Think

Paradoxically, ECOWAS, the African Union and the International Organization of La Francophonie, which in principle should be guarantors of the general interest in complete impartiality, have chosen to support the autocracy of the Gnassingbé, echoing the discreet injunctions of certain Western countries, in the name of a political stability obtained with the forceps, but which does not however solve the basic problem of the massive rejection of the dictatorship by the majority of the people.

The main Togolese opposition political parties, unable to propose a charter based on values, a social project and a proposal for a peaceful transition, have finally demonstrated that the recurring failures of their "leadership" in the fight for the liberation of Togo cannot be limited solely to facade struggles or compromises with the Gnassingbé system.

The lack of patriotism and the weak feeling of belonging to a nation that respects the diversity of its components pose a real problem. They harm the revelation of competent and charismatic people to define the path of a credible political alternative and organize the struggle that would allow the Togolese people to adhere to a common political alternative. What is increasingly badly experienced by the people is that this power-opposition game without alternation has been going on for several decades, and is pushing back the imagination of the prospect of a democratic path.

As a popular Togolese saying goes, “when you put a chameleon on a colorful fabric to catch it, it laughs to tears”. In truth, a second saying completes the first, namely: “When a chameleon is in power, everything around it changes color”.

In other words, like his father Etienne Eyadema Gnassingbé before him, Faure Gnassingbé, in the same way as certain conventional opposition parties act as "chameleons" vis-à-vis the Togolese people. Indeed, they have, together over time, plunged the Togolese people into a democratic impasse that ECOWAS has come to endorse, despite the illegality and unconstitutionality of all Faure Gnassingbé's elections.

So let's talk about unity of action again at the start of 2022, as advocated by Ms. Adjamagbo-Johnson – Coordinator of the Mgr Kpodzro Dynamics (DMK), President of the Democratic Convention of African Peoples (CDPA) and former President of the unity of 14 opposition political parties known as the C14 -, is certainly based on good intentions[1]. The shared conclusion can be summed up as follows:

In order to "avoid the mistakes of the past", Mrs. Adjamagbo-Johnson proposes that this union be made on "clear and previously defined bases[2]". Everything is therefore in the definition of what must be "clear", and what must be "preliminarily defined". It must therefore be understood that the coalition of 14 opposition political parties known as C14 could not constitute a “union” on “clear and previously defined bases”. On the strength of this assertion, Mrs. Adjamagbo-Johnson cannot tell us either that the process of designating a common candidate by the Dynamic Monsignor Kpodzro (DMK) for the presidential election of February 22, 2020 was carried out on “clear and previously defined bases”.

In this case, in what capacity and in the name of what, the Togolese people should trust them again with their eyes closed, on the strength of simple declarations of intent? Especially if we take into account the number of people sacrificed, died in their name, or abandoned on the side of the road, which are legion!

For the RCDTI and the CVU-TOGO-DIASPORA, there is no other alternative than to propose on a "transparent" basis, "prepared beforehand", a charter of values, a proposal for political transition and a common social project, all discussed and validated within the framework of inclusive conferences sanctioned by democratic votes of participants having no dependence vis-à-vis the Gnassingbé system.

When one claims to belong to the camp of the struggle for democracy, it is difficult to be credible if one does not apply to oneself the rules of transparency and democratic ethics, in the organization of the struggle to achieve it.

It is the responsibility of each individual to “test” not only their contamination with the COVID-19 coronavirus, but also their contamination with the Gnassingbé system. Unfortunately, there are no fast and reliable tests to identify undisclosed opportunism. Also, only vigilance and discernment will make it possible to build a movement of responsible citizens, committed to building a political alternative together.

RCDTI and CVU-TOGO-DIASPORA recommend to each Togolese citizen to realize that the "true" friends of the Togolese people are not always those we believe, those who proclaim it in word but not in deed . In short, the true friends of the Togolese people are unequivocally necessarily independent of the Gnassingbé system and galaxy. Otherwise, in the short or long term, they end up serving as crutches to maintain the political system and the power of the Gnassingbé in place.

2. Retention in Power of Faure Gnassingbe: the Togolese Opposition is Not Neutral!

Based on the observation that divisions have undermined and continue to undermine the Togolese institutional opposition, Ms. Adjamagbo-Johnson affirmed that "no political party will be able to effectively, on its own, bring to an end this fight which only lasted too long”. His conclusion is problematic. The truth is that it is the so-called opposition political parties, collectively, that are the problem. The credibility of each of the political or religious leaders has gradually withered to the point of disappearing and making inaudible the wishes they formulate for a Togolese people who are wary of those who have never succeeded in proposing a social project. common in the service of the Togolese people. Otherwise, it is the cult of personality that has prevailed with the obvious failures that each Togolese family carries in the flesh.

Many Togolese citizens died, or were kidnapped, or had to go into exile, or suffered imprisonment, humiliation, torture, etc., because of the strategic deadlocks of the opposition leaders , without however seeing a glimmer of hope on the horizon, or half-opening the paths – shady or peaceful – that would lead to a democracy based on the truth of the ballot box in Togo.

The vast majority of the Togolese people no longer believe in the ability of opposition political parties and their leaders to lead a struggle for the liberation of the people. They are too busy waging a struggle for personal financial autonomy because, directly or indirectly, they and they have contributed to keeping Faure Gnassingbé in power, in order to be able to continue to exist.

The Togolese people must remain vigilant because some opposition parties are not neutral.

Therefore, without fundamentally changing the rules of the game through the use of ethics and transparency, it is not possible to embark on one form or another of a Union of the opposition with such political parties without again running the risk of disillusionment. Indeed, these parties would do better to join the presidential movement and no longer deceive the Togolese people. This would clarify the Togolese political game and give a chance to the emergence of an alternative movement to prepare a political transition of 24 to 36 months, including personalities from civil society and the Diaspora and led by them.

It is therefore requested that the leaders of the parties in power as well as those of the Togolese institutional opposition having dependencies with the Gnassingbé system to announce to the Togolese people that they will not be candidates for positions of governance of the political transition in Togo.

Indeed, after so many false dialogues dominated by deceit, patent failures in the leadership of political parties, characterized by an absence of a social project at the service of the People and an absence of democracy within the parties themselves policies, the union as a slogan of unity of an opposition dependent on Faure Gnassingbé is unsatisfactory. Unity will not be in opposition to Faure Gnassingbé, but will constitute a political alternative because no one will support the Gnassingbé system anymore, including paradoxically his own supporters of yesterday and today, like real chameleons.

The institutionalized parties dependent on the financing of Faure Gnassingbé and the so-called Togolese opposition are not neutral! An opposition leader believes that a distinction must be made between Togolese opposition actors: separating the "real" from the "false".

3. The "True" and the "False" Actors of the Togolese Opposition

Jean-Pierre Fabre, President of the National Alliance for Change (ANC) is not opposed to the union of the opposition, but believes that it should be done only with the "true militants of the 'opposition' among which the members of the ANC[3].

If for Jean-Pierre Fabre, the real people responsible for maintaining Faure Gnassingbé are not at the level of the ANC but in the ranks of the "usurpers" who have not been mentioned, the "remobilization" of all necessarily go through the ANC. The reproaches to the "usurpers" are precise on the part of the President of the ANC: "By means of lies, bluffs and lures, with mystifications and boasts, these impostors have succeeded in corrupting the intellect of citizens, permanently attacking the real opponents and at the same time, giving pride of place to the oppressive power which has kept Togo and the Togolese people under the yoke of the dictatorship for several decades”.

Is the message of the President of the ANC addressed to the representatives of the dynamic Monseigneur Kpodzro (DMK) and those who invested him as a candidate for the presidential election of 2020, under the illumination of Mgr Kpodzro? Is it more simply a question of recalling the failure of Dr. Agbéyomé Kodjo, President of the MPDD party, Patriotic Movement for Democracy and Development and his main lieutenants, to succeed in the alternation by being cheated by the untruth of the ballot boxes? ? In the same way a few years earlier as the same Jean-Pierre Fabre (presidential elections of 2010, 2015, 2020), Bob Akitani (presidential election of 2005) and Gilchrist Olympio (presidential election 1998)? A clarification with regard to the Togolese people is expected and necessary, because all have been declared losers by being sacrificed on the altar of the untruth of the ballot boxes and despite this they continue to opt to participate in elections of which they know that electoral fraud is planned and organized in advance.

Instead of presenting a common social project and obtaining the support of the Togolese people within the framework of inclusive conferences, all these opposition leaders have chosen, in the same way as Faure Gnassingbé, the strategy of the cult of personality and adherence to a person and not to a program, and obtain the same results, namely: the usurpation of their victory against forms of peaceful co-existence which neutralize initiatives based on a "real political alternative".

Through the voice of Jean-Pierre Fabre, the ANC advocates "the reconquest of our lost areas of freedom" and less the approaches that it considers "populist to abuse the populations". The “usurpers” were promoted to the rank of “conjurers” for having conducted:

The ANC had the opportunity in previous presidential elections to bring down this regime but did not do so. The “reconquest of our lost spaces of freedom” advocated by the ANC is insufficient and could even make people believe that this is the sole objective of the ANC. It is a question of solving the fundamental problems of the Togolese people and less those of the ANC. If the solution of the problem can be done with the ANC, it is good. But if the solution is to be without the ANC, it will be.

Ultimately it is the Togolese people who will decide, because there is no obligation for the Togolese people to go through institutional opposition political parties that have failed in the past to offer them a way out. which strangely resembles what has already been done, and which has led to an impasse.

If it is necessary to make a distinction between the "real" and the "false" actors of the reconquest of the truth of the ballot boxes in Togo, this distinction must be based on the identification of the opaque links of real and / or esoteric dependence between the actors of the Togolese opposition and Faure Gnassingbé and his relays.

4. The Limits of an Insurgency Strategy Without an Alternative Society Project

When the President of the Pan-African National Party (PNP), Mr. Tikpi Atchadam chose to hand over the "keys" to the August 19, 2017 insurrection in the hands of the ANC for unity of action, the acts posed by the ANC led to the maintenance of Faure Gnassingbé.

For Tikpi Atchadam[4], the observation is clear: "it is not a question of a post-electoral crisis but of a long, deep and interminable crisis, a total eclipse which has befallen the people since January 13, 1963. But no one disputes that. From there to conclude that "the crisis that the country is currently going through is in no way a post-election crisis" is a parallax error. RCDTI and CVU-TOGO-DIASPORA called in due time, with analyzes and demonstrations in support, not to participate in elections organized on the basis of fraud, and explained the damage that a new failure would cause to popular mobilization. But overriding our recommendations or those of other actors, those of the political parties who have chosen to participate, must also bear and assume responsibility.

The strategy of the PNP, which did not participate in the presidential election of February 2020, but did not propose an alternative social project to the Togolese people either, has its limits.

Indeed, it was first necessary to raise awareness among the Togolese people at the base. But that also supposes that this People, taken by the dependence of poverty, draconian laws, permanent threats of the abuse of right and power of the Gnassingbé system, regularly yield the subcontracting of the fight to esoteric forces and spiritual. Tikpi Atchadam made this bitter observation, which weakened or even called into question its strategy, including the outcome of the August 19, 2017 uprising.

Also, Tikpi Atchadam recalls that “God only intervenes alongside standing peoples, fighting resolutely and with integrity for the cardinal values ​​that symbolize him, in particular freedom, truth and justice. Today more than ever, it is a question of stopping the bleeding, of stopping the march imposed on the people.

But, as regards the development of a common social project to organize the unity of an opposition without Faure Gnassingbé, he did not allude to it[5]. Also, no one knows on what alternative social project is based the exit from the Togolese crisis proposed by the PNP. The question is whether the PNP could serve as a "force of proposal" without a political alternative based on a common social project for the Togolese people? Details from the PNP on this subject would be welcome in order to enlighten the Togolese people.

However, it is clear that to win the fight and establish a political alternative in Togo, it will necessarily be necessary to change strategy, namely: to reimagine the most appropriate forms of the way of fighting, to organize collectively, to prepare and ensure its credibility against the Gnassingbé system in place, in fact since 1963, thanks to the support of a foreign power. This new form of organizing unity cannot be based on political parties whose repeated strategic failures are obvious.

Also, RCDTI and CVU-TOGO-DIASPORA humbly ask all opposition parties to seriously consider organized actors from civil society and the Togolese Diaspora who are independent of Faure Gnassingbé as potential actors who can offer solutions out of crisis. It must be noted that to date, the representatives of civil society and the Diaspora have been considered by the parties of institutional opposition as secondary agents, even superfluous, except when it is a question of making them contribute to support these same political parties.

Everyone must make amends by officially asking "forgiveness to the Togolese people" at the beginning of 2022 so that Togo can start again on a sound, clear basis with contributions from each other in writing. Following inclusive conferences without Faure Gnassingbé's agents, the adhesion of the populations to an alternative common proposal can only favor the objective of remobilization and lead to forms of insurrection for which Faure Gnassingbé will be responsible in the same way as his trustees, in the event of non-resignation of for unconstitutionality and illegality of his accession to power.

5. The National Consultation Framework between Political Actors: Duplicity of Power

During his greeting message, the National President of the Union of Forces of Change (UFC), Gilchrist Sylvanus Olympio, who had retired from political life due to his advanced age, seems to have returned to business. If he shares with everyone the fact that "no political party can solve Togo's problems alone", it is important to note that no political party has had such a claim. It is true that some leaders of competing political parties tried, in vain, to impose themselves as the only candidate for whom the Togolese people had to "vote"... The bad surprise was there!

Between the untruth of the ballot boxes on the electoral results and the effective distrust of a large part of the Togolese people towards the parties which try to accompany the Gnassingbé system in a "permanent" maintenance in power, the room for maneuver is so narrow that all those who played this troubled game lost their credibility with the Togolese people. And above all lost the elections or only had subordinate positions within the galaxy of Gnassingbé power. The strategies chosen by the ANC, like the UFC, left the populations with only the bitter observation of the political failure of two parties which did not allow an alternation in Togo. But there is even worse. One of them, the UFC, made a historic choice with long-term consequences, the day when, when it was led by the son of Sylvanus Olympio, the real father of the nation, the ci made the choice to join the RPT, the party that was created by the assassins of his own father. And, at the height of ignominy, to send ministers to sit in the government of Faure Gnassingbé, without measuring the extent of the consequences and the negative charge of such a choice in the collective imagination of the Togolese people.

After the thousands of victims who fell during more than thirty years in combat in the name of the ideal of freedom against a very harsh dictatorship, in particular the hundreds during the presidential election of 2005 where the Son Faure Gnassingbé succeeded Father Eyadéma Gnassingbé, the Togolese people have never accepted this high treason. We do not reconcile with impunity on the backs of innocent victims in the manner of a simple mention of losses and profits on a balance sheet. The fight for the ideal of freedom and political and economic independence is a noble fight and when it is done at the cost of human life, the bloodshed deserves better than betrayal.

But today, when Gilchrist Olympio advocates "discussions between political actors" through the "permanence of dialogue" within the "National Concertation between Political Actors (CNAP)", he reiterates the error of the past which led to the untruth of the polls. While he was a privileged actor and witness of the 28 previous "false dialogues" which failed, how can he affirm that, within the national framework of the dialogue between the political actors, how can he affirm that the "resolutions" who will come out of this structure "will make it possible to improve, I am sure, the electoral framework for the next elections[6]"? The UFC, through the voice of its President, clearly opts for yet another "false dialogue", thus structurally legitimizing the Gnassingbé system, which may explain the disaffection of a large part of its supporters.

In addition, he proposes to "block the way to political crises". This message, which could just as well come from the mouth of Faure Gnassingbé or one of his zealous ministers, only accentuates the ambiguity of Gilchrist Olympio's assertion. In other words, “blocking the way for all civil and military actors who aspire through the daily struggle to a political alternation in Togo would be the new doctrine of the UFC. Every conscious citizen will judge the relevance of this strategy confirmed by Gilchrist Olympio, who can no longer be considered part of the camp of those who work for a political alternative to the opposition without Faure Gnassingbé in Togo. Paradoxically, Gilchrist Olympio encourages other political parties to follow his approach.

He should clearly assume his choice and enlighten Togolese men and women by opting for his membership of the presidential movement and the registration of his party as an annexation of the RPT / UNIR party.

6. Rebuilding the Unity of the Independent Togolese People on an Alternative Political Project

What has led Togo to an impasse, with the added bonus of the loss of credibility of the Togolese opposition parties, and even of certain civil society associations directly dependent on Faure Gnassingbé as to their existence, is in fact based on:

Although in favor of a “true union of the opposition to lead the battle for change”, the President of the ANC, Jean Pierre Fabre does not say anything about how he intends to get Faure Gnassingbé to leave. You can't just fight the battle for change and lose every time and start again ad aeternam. This leaves the Togolese people with the impression that some political parties have specialized in "fights" that never lead to the victory of political alternation first, then that of people. Nevertheless, the President of the ANC made the effort to specify what the union should not be.

RCDTI and CVU-TOGO-DIASPORA had previously pointed out similar findings in other terms, which are recalled in the comparative table below:

Since the return of Togolese citizens to the polls after the end of the reign of the single party Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais (RPT), the cumulative experience of dozens of electoral polls has shown that there will be no possibility of a "struggle for the consolidation of the electoral framework "whether institutions or texts, as long as the control of the electoral process remains unilaterally in the hands of an autocratic authority, mainly dominated by the RPT / UNIR party of Faure Gnassingbé, which decides unilaterally, in which the participation of certain opposition political parties, including the ANC among others, ultimately only serves as a guarantee in the so-called independent, national and local electoral commissions.

If according to Jean Pierre Fabre, the Union is a fight[7] in reference to a principle of the French Communist Party[8], it must be recognized that those who elsewhere wanted to put this motto into practice:

* have never been able to fully conquer political power; Or

* when they were in power, did not last because the fight cannot be fought only at the level of ideas, without mutual concessions on operational and practical plans with partners and allies.

The reality on the ground was based on the "signing of a Common Government Program between a "union" of the parties of the French left, namely the Socialist Party (PS), the French Communist Party (PCF) and the Left Radical Party (PRG). It is from this union that the late Mr. François Mitterrand became, by the truth of the ballot box, the President of the French in 1981.

As a result, Togo needs a common societal project preceded by a transition proposal based on political values ​​and principles. Faure Gnassingbé's Union of Independent Togolese and Togolese will be based on diversity and peaceful confrontation of proposals, leadership of the project chosen with ethical and competent personalities, integration of improvements allowing to reach a consensus, a democratic vote and the submission of the conclusions and the alternative political project common to the Togolese people for a massive adhesion.

If this way out of the crisis is not deemed appropriate, while the leaders of political parties, but also the leaders of associations or movements of civil society make their proposal in the form of an alternative political project and accept the principle of an inclusive conference to discuss it.

It is a question of making operational proposals, taking into account the limited budget with all those who, beyond reflection, want to understand the present, and want in a determined way, to work to prepare the future of Togolese women and Togolese, including those from the Diaspora.

We must therefore stop the sterile and short-lived "invectives" between the members of the forces that could represent this political alternative in 2022. The Togolese Opposition Union must include political parties, representatives of civil society and the Diaspora independent of Faure Gnassingbé. But if it is a question of proposing to the Togolese citizens to "start over as before according to the worn-out principles of sterile political strategies, with the prospect of having the same results of failures", then it is better to organize without the political parties which have led the Togolese people into an impasse.

The reconstruction of the unity of the independent Togolese people requires the drafting and promotion of an alternative political project associating civil society and the independent Togolese Diaspora

It is no longer a question of aligning oneself with the institutional opposition parties that have failed but of moving forward with them if they wish, on ethical bases that respect diversity, or else of moving forward without them if they constitute in practice real obstacles to the advent of the political alternative and alternation in Togo. With the presentation of a political project during inclusive conferences, it is possible to work on “clear and transparent bases”.

No, the Union should not be based on a "sterile opposition" but on an "alternative proposal" to that of the system of Faure Gnassingbé and the non-republican soldiers. As long as this is not taken into consideration, the road to alternation without governance alternatives will be long, very long, too long!!!

7. Exploitation of a Part of the Togolese People by the Gnassingbé: Lost Purchasing Power

Paradoxically, when formulating the wishes for 2022, Faure Gnassingbé was content to make people forget that he is a usurper of Togolese democracy. He understood that he never had the support of the Togolese people and that without the abuse of power and rights, the voracity of the Togolese soldiers for easy money from the state budget, the complacency of certain ecclesiastics – all confessions combined – who forget to fast to make themselves heard by God, and by justice, in particular the illegal Constitutional Court and by a parliament, exploited, they would no longer be in power… for a long time.

Its responsibility for the level of poverty and loss of purchasing power of Togolese men and women is at its peak. The guaranteed minimum wage (SMG) is 35,000 FCFA per month while the high cost of living is exorbitant. With a minimum monthly rent amounting to 40% of this SMG (i.e. approximately 15,000 FCFA per month), and daily transport costs of approximately 800 FCFA per day, i.e. 24,000 FCFA per month without extra, i.e. 68% of the SMG, it is easy to understand that Faure Gnassingbé never did anything to improve the lot of the working poor. Between rent and transport costs, the poor worker is already “an economic living dead”.

But we must add for a family of a couple with two (2) children, about 1,200 FCFA per day for food, or 36,000 FCFA per month. In other words, without rent and without transport, the minimum wage is swallowed up in food. But it is also necessary to integrate and plan:

Also, a family of 4 people classified in the "low income" category, i.e. earning the guaranteed minimum wage without taxes, has 35,000 FCFA, must meet estimated average monthly expenses of 123,900 FCFA per month. So in addition to the abuses of rights and power of the Gnassingbé power, it is not uncommon for seigneurial rights, abuses of authority and forms of domestic and business slavery to take over from the exploitation of the Togolese people. The counterpart is corruption in all possible forms, more and more legitimized because "a hungry stomach has no ears"... So, everything must be done so that the media are at the orders of power and "silence" the violations blatant acts of the “ayatollahs” of Gnassingbé power.

8. The Gnassingbé System Blackmails Independent Journalists in Togo

The problem is that the real "usurper" of power in Togo has a name doubled with tentacles: it is Faure Gnassingbé and his military-civil-esoteric system whose tentacles extend outside the Togolese territory internationally. Moreover, in his wishes to the nation, he indicates to allocate a large budget to appease the army in order to perhaps avoid a coup d'etat. The problem is that by talking about terrorism at the center of his concerns and by castigating the good people of "the savannah", in the North of Togo, he exposes Togo and insults the peaceful populations of the savannah who have not asked for anything. The exclusion of soldiers from these regions in the Togolese army is a matter of segregation.

The reality is that all of this is purely the manipulation of Faure Gnassingbé, who is playing a very dangerous game by using terrorism as a screen to hide his repressive policy towards the population. Because in the last resort it is always the civilian populations who pay the heaviest price for terrorism, if we refer to the case of Burkina Faso, a country bordering Togo, which to date records several thousand victims and several hundred thousand of displaced inhabitants in the north of the country.

In some countries run by autocrats like Faure Gnassingbé, the specter of terrorism is also used to instil fear and justify emergency measures. It is a question of trying to convince the Togolese population like the Western chancelleries that its governance and the maintenance of its ad aeternam system would be a guarantee of stability.

It is to be hoped that by "indirectly" provoking the terrorists - mafia and jihadists - -in particular by drawing their attention to Togo by this permanent agitation of terrorism like a scarecrow-, the latter could target the Gnassingbé power to " arrogance" and not innocent and poor people. Is Faure Gnassingbé fearing a revolt, even a coup d'etat coming from the ranks of the soldiers of the North, so that he chooses in his vows pronounced on December 30, 2021 to "manipulate and index" the savanna populations? Maybe ! Certainly, there is a real attempt to oppose the People and especially to oppose the populations of the north and those of the south. He is wrong !

The Togolese people know each other and are deeply peaceful, because they are a People of God, from North to South. The real “terrorist-jihadists” are not in northern Togo. They could, if we are not careful, find themselves within the Gnassingbé power, or even the Government which includes "minister-pastors". Is it the divine mission for "pastors" to kidnap and send illegally to prison and dare to demand a public "apology" from the innocent journalists[9] that are Mr. Ferdinand Ayité of the Journal L'Alternative and Mr. Joël Egah from the Journal Fraternité, who only do their job of informing and whistleblowing.

But the extortion of excuses in an autocratic regime whose President is illegal and unconstitutional is blackmail!!! It is to be hoped that the ECOWAS Court of Justice will eventually enforce the texts of community law and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on all these violations of human rights, the rights of journalists and the rights of the People. in Togo.

So, instead of seeing “pastor-ministers” send independent journalists to prison, they would do better to choose between the profession of “serving God” and that of serving the “ante-God”. Impossible ? No ! It is enough for these minister-pastors to rediscover the priority mission of explaining in high places and to the military that wisdom dictates that Faure Gnassingbé resign for the greater good of the Togolese people, especially if this makes it possible to free all political prisoners and all innocent people languishing in Togolese prisons where some guards demand, to walk a few meters, 1000 FCFA - or more - to bring information to a detainee and 1000 FCFA to return with the prisoner's response to the family...

9. Pacific Transition: Renewal of the Resignation of Faure Gnassingbé

Faure Gnassingbé has never supported the democratic aspirations of the Togolese people. His resignation from the post of illegal President, usurped through the untruth of the ballot box, would be the peaceful way to bring Togo into transition, in order to avoid sooner or later as in Sudan, Chad, Mali and Guinea, the arrival of soldiers who first try to keep power as long as possible to "ensure their backs". France has still not understood that if it had supported democratic forces in French-speaking countries, it would not be suffering the most serious loss of credibility in postcolonial French history.

After the unconstitutional seizure of power by Faure Gnassingbé, thanks to an illegal Constitutional Court and the unconditional support of the non-republican part of the Togolese army for a fourth presidential term in 2020, there is an urgent need for all the responsible democratic and patriotic citizens of Togo, to engage in the preparation of a democratic transition of the country which responds to the demands for freedom, democracy, justice, creation of wealth and peace of the Togolese people.

No Togolese actor – political parties or civil society and Diaspora organizations – can accomplish this task alone. The RCDTI and the CVU-TOGO-DIASPORA will continue to do their part in the collective work by preparing the written bases for a democratic transition in Togo.

But Togolese stakeholders should be able to benefit from this clearing work to lay the foundations for a transformation of Togolese governance based on values ​​and principles, in order to overcome violence and put an end to the current political crisis. of the Togolese nation.

It will also be necessary, on the basis of competence and ethics, to select new civilian leaders independent of Faure Gnassingbé and his system that destroys Togolese identity in order to succeed, within the framework of inclusive conferences successively, to the proposal of a common social project. As such, a transition schedule estimated at between 24-36 months will be proposed and a clear decision-making and democratic process accepted by all will be organized for transitional activities, including institutional and constitutional overhaul.

If the Togolese Constitution of 1992 should serve as a starting point to forget the unilateral modifications of the Gnassingbé system which allowed multiple constitutional coups endorsed by ECOWAS, the African Union, France, Germany , the United States, the United Nations and the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF), it will absolutely be necessary to set to work to draw up a new version respecting the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights.

The following points will be substantially modified by the transition team: the Togolese military system will undergo a profound change to first serve the aspirations of the Togolese people and contribute to development, particularly in infrastructure and civil engineering , with the added bonus of the return of the primacy of the Togolese Constitution over the opaque laws of the military.

It will then be necessary to tackle the aspect of the representation of the People in its great diversity at the legislative, judicial, executive and counter-power levels in the transitional government. For this, the refoundation of political parties with a greater place for women and young people will be promoted. As well as the creation of accountability and reporting mechanisms to the Togolese people at each stage of the preparation of the processes of organizing the truth of the ballot boxes and free, peaceful and violence-free elections with consolidated results only from the offices. of voting.

10. The Military Must Defend the Togolese People, Not Those Who Oppress This People

Unilateral action by the military in the event of a coup to appoint a new prime minister and a new cabinet would undermine the credibility of the latter, which is already well under way through multi-decade support for the dictatorship and will have no support of the Togolese people. This would also risk plunging the country into a civil conflict, as the accumulated injustices of the system of Faure Gnassingbé and his father are potential detonators for extra-judicial settling of scores. It is enough to cite the usurpations and abuses of rights recently denounced by the President of the Supreme Court of Togo in the land domain for the anger of families, over at least three generations, to resurface.

To avoid this, RCDTI and CVU-TOGO-DIASPORA urge the independent stakeholders of Faure Gnassingbé's system to engage in immediate consultation, led by all goodwill in civil society and in the Diaspora in order to offer written proposals to present at the first inclusive conferences.

These inclusive conferences could be financed by the United Nations or the international community in order to facilitate, without interfering in the internal affairs which fall within the strict competence of the Togolese people, questions of transition and change in Togo. Such an inclusive conference should be fully inclusive and representative of historically marginalized groups and movements, include youth and women, and would help set the country on a path of building democracy.

RCDTI and CVU-TOGO-DIASPORA will not support a Transitional Government appointed without the participation of a wide range of civil society stakeholders and imposed by the military or a foreign country. It is about preparing the roadmap

a government and a parliament of transition and change in Togo which will be able to benefit from credibility based on ethics and competence, on the basis of a non-objection of the Togolese people on the personalities chosen.

It is therefore this pragmatic approach that the RCDTI and the CVU-TOGO-DIASPORA propose to lead Togo towards free, fair elections based on the truth of the ballot box. The transition project with its timetable will be necessary to facilitate the provision of financial, economic, technical and material assistance to Togo, including in terms of close security of the personalities of the transition in order to hold accountable the actors who will inevitably try to hinder the democratic process.

The RCDTI and the CVU-TOGO-DIASPORA continue to hold Faure Gnassingbé and the Togolese military authorities responsible for the multiple violations of the human rights of the Togolese people which go against the national legislation in force and supraregional law and internationally, in particular the ECOWAS Protocols on Democracy and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights.

The right of the Togolese people to assemble peacefully and to express their grievances must be protected. The right of independent journalists to inform must be preserved.

The RCDTI and CVU-TOGO-DIASPORA expect Faure Gnassingbé's security services to refrain from resorting to violence against peaceful actors in Togo's transformation, both on national territory and in the Diaspora . Faced with the abuses and crimes committed, it is necessary to begin to put out of harm's way and dismantle the outlaw militias of Faure Gnassingbé, so that justice is done.

The kidnappings, the imprisonment of innocent people without trial, the torture and murder of several Togolese, the sexual violence and the injuries inflicted on hundreds of others by the security services and other armed militias since the seizure of power by a constitutional coup by the Gnassingbé are unacceptable.

The RCDTI and the CVU-TOGO-DIASPORA reaffirm the need for the transitional power to carry out independent investigations into this torture, ill-treatment, rape and violence, and the deaths associated with it so that the new Togolese justice can identify and hold the perpetrators of these acts responsible and condemn them according to the rigor of the law while respecting their rights. Detentions of activists, ordinary citizens, journalists as well as communication cuts must also end. All those unjustly detained must be released and the unjustified state of emergency immediately lifted, as it only serves to reduce the spaces of freedom.

11. Relaunch of the Liberation Struggle for a Mutation of Togo

Based on the illegality of Faure Gnassingbé's constitutional coups to gain power, in 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020, with maintaining power through violence and abuses of rights validated by the ECOWAS, the Togolese people must become aware that the system of Gnassingbé dubbed by anti-republican soldiers and esoteric forces, national and international, is an autocratic political system worthy of fascism.

Fascism is an authoritarian political system that combines populism, nationalism and totalitarianism in the name of a supreme collective ideal. Both violent and conservative, this system in Togo is directly opposed to representative democracy and to the State, which guarantees the individual and collective rights of the People.

Denying the individual and democracy in the name of the masses embodied in a providential leader hiding a military dictatorship behind the scenes, fascism recruits social groups through money or threats (youth, women, the poor, etc.) ). The fascism of the Gnassingbé justifies the state violence carried out against actors capable of representing a political alternative independent of the central power, by assimilating them to internal enemies. For this, we need parties of convenience that are legitimizing and food parties. The unity of the nation is only possible with determined, committed actors who are not traitors to the Togolese people in order to overcome and resolve the antagonisms of social classes outside the system and Gnassingbé's party and its variations in political parties. supporters or associations of civil society and the Diaspora who have aligned themselves.

At the beginning of the year 2022, the Togolese people reject the autocratic regime of the Gnassingbé system and invite the determined, committed, and independent actors of Faure Gnassingbé to contact each other in Togo and in the Diaspora so that the preparations for a democratic transition can take shape and prosper with inclusive conferences without Faure Gnassingbé and his henchmen.

The relaunch of the struggle for the liberation of Togo in 2022 presupposes an organization, ethical actors and the preparation of a transition and a social project without Faure Gnassingbé and his sniffer agents. No one will be able to free themselves from the third political way which cannot be done under the dependence of the Gnassingbé system.

12. The Only Alternative For The Togolese People: The Third Way

The Togolese people know that many leaders of the institutional opposition and even civil society associations are food opponents and have become ways of supporting and legitimizing the Gnassingbé system. This people, aware and vigilant, must abandon them to choose a third way, that proposed by RCDTI and CVU-TOGO-DIASPORA.

As for the presidential movement which, through the voice of Gilbert Bawara, the most zealous of the Gnassingbé Ministers, recalled in 2018 "that there will not be a new August 19" in Togo[10], the Togolese people should know that Gilchrist Olympio and his UFC party have chosen to endorse this approach and can no longer be considered a patriotic opposition, assuming that this party has never been since Faure Gnassingbé came to power.

RCDTI and CVU-TOGO-DIASPORA have chosen to demonstrate that the future of Togo passes through the third way and this way is parallel and alternative to that of the two other ways namely: the way of the autocrats and that of the legitimators.

The 3rd way is that of the People who will eventually understand that this is the way that must be joined, supported, promoted and implemented democratically and without Faure Gnassingbé and his sniffer agents for an alternative project and a political alternation.

The 3rd way can in no way cross paths in the future with that of legitimators and autocrats, once the awareness of each Togolese and Togolese has regained its rights.

No one will be able to say that he or she does not know how to relaunch the fight for the liberation of Togo in 2022!!!

January 10, 2021.

The Management of:

Coordination Network of the Independent Togolese Diaspora (RCDTI) and the Collective for the Truth of the Urns-Diaspora Togo (CVU-TOGO-DIASPORA) in partnership with all personalities or structures of independent civil society.

SIGNATORIES: RCDTI, CVU-TOGO-DIASPORA, Partners and Supporters:

Yves Ekoué AMAÏZO, Dr.Jean-Pierre Akoété BALIKPOErnesto D’ALMEIDA, Dr.Mathieu D’ALMEIDAKoffi DEKU, Eng.François FABREGATGeneviève MOUTONAntoine RANDOLPH, Dr.

© RCDTI & CVU-TOGO-DIASPORA