AFRICA - House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats

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bassy and international groups, the Government removed the security forces. The
Government insisted the troops had been placed there for her protection.
In August the Government refused to act on the passport application by the son
of Dahuku Pere, a prominent critic of the Government from within the ruling RPT,
apparently in retaliation for his father’s views. By year’s end, Pere’s son still had
not been issued a passport. The Government permitted citizens to use a national
identity card instead of a passport for travel to other member countries of the Economic
Community of West African States. The Government required that a married
woman have her husband’s permission to apply for a passport.
There was no law that provided for the granting of asylum or refugee status in
accordance with the provisions of the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status
of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. However, the Government provided first asylum.
The Government cooperated with the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees. During
the year, a National Refugee Assistance Coordination (CNAR) group was established.
In December UNHCR estimated there were 11,000 refugees from Ghana living in
the northern areas of the country, near the cities of Bassar, Sotouboua, and
Dankpen. A total of 508 Ghanaian refugees were in the process of being repatriated
at year’s end. According to the Government, there were approximately 800 refugees
(mostly from Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo) registered in Lome
and an approximate 1,200 additional refugees living in rural villages. According to
UNHCR estimates, approximately 1,600 Togolese refugees lived in Benin and another
800 in Ghana.
There were no reports of the forced return of persons to a country where they
feared persecution.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change Their Government
The Constitution provides for the right of citizens to change their government
peacefully; however, the Government restricted this right in practice. In the 1998
presidential election, the Interior Ministry declared Eyadema the winner with 52
percent of the vote; however, serious irregularities in the Government’s conduct of
the election strongly favored Eyadema and appear to have affected the outcome materially.
Although the Government generally did not obstruct the actions of political opponents
openly, the President used the military and his government allies to intimidate
and harass citizens and opposition groups (see Sections 1.d., 1.e., and 2.b.). LTC
Ernest Gnassingbe, the President’s son, threatened the leading legislative candidate
for the opposition party CAR, Palakizima Aweli, telling him to leave the city.
The Government and the State remained highly centralized. President Eyadema’s
national government appointed the officials and controlled the budgets of all subnational
government entities including prefectures and municipalities, and influenced
the selection of traditional chiefs. The National Assembly has little authority
or influence on President Eyadema and has limited influence on the Government.
Aside from controlling its own programs and activities and writing amendments to
the Constitution, the National Assembly largely approved the proposals of the President
and the Government.
After the 1999 legislative elections, boycotted by the opposition and marred by
procedural problems and significant fraud, the Government announced that it would
pursue dialog with the opposition. In July 1999, all sides signed the ‘‘Lome Framework
Agreement,’’ which included a pledge by President Eyadema that he would respect
the Constitution and not seek another term as president after his term expires
in 2003. In 2000 the Government established the CENI, composed of 10 members
of the President’s RPT party and 10 members of the opposition, and adopted a new
Electoral Code largely drafted by the opposition.
On February 1, in what it called a bid to speed up election preparations, the Government
amended the electoral code to include: A requirement that legislative and
presidential candidates must be citizens; a reduction of the composition of the CENI
to 10 members (5 from the RPT and 5 representing the opposition); and that all
CENI decisions could be made by a simple majority vote. On April 25, the Constitutional
Court replaced the CENI with a seven-magistrate commission (C7), which
proceeded to organize elections for October 27.
In April longtime RPT Party official and former president of the National Assembly,
Dahuku Pere, publicly criticized the party’s failure to break with its authoritarian
one-party past. Noting that excesses from 1991 to 1993 had included murders
and repression committed by the both the RPT and its opponents, Pere called for
a renewal of party values and recommitment to success in a fairly fought democratic
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