Togo's refugees too afraid of soldiers to go home Source: Reuters
By Pawana Abalo COME, Benin, April 30 (Reuters) - Young men, old women and children among the thousands who fled violence in Togo said on Saturday they were too scared to go home after security forces shot at unarmed civilians in post-election chaos. More than 11,500 people have fled the tiny West African country since trouble erupted on Tuesday, minutes after the late authoritarian ruler's son was declared winner of a poll his opponents say was fixed. Police fought days of pitched battles with protesters dug in behind blazing barricades in Lome, while security forces in other towns sought out opposition supporters and beat them up in their homes, according to those who fled the violence. "Just after the results were announced the red berets (commandos) went out into the streets and started shooting at the boys," said Marthe, 60, who fled over the border to Benin where U.N. aid workers have set up refugee camps. "They only shot at the boys. They ransacked shops and blamed the youths, who were unarmed," she said, standing by a sea of green U.N. tents on acres of red soil near the village of Come. Like Marthe, 30-year-old Lawson fled from the Togolese town of Aneho, which lies 45 km (28 miles) east of the capital and where hospital workers say at least nine people were killed. "As soon as the results were announced we went out into the streets to protest. The military shot into the crowd and I was hit in the foot," Lawson said from his bed in Come's hospital, where a dozen other Togolese refugees with bullet and machete wounds were being treated. "I'm afraid of going back to Aneho because I'm afraid of reprisals. I don't know how the RPT (ruling party) lot will react when they see me," he said. BEATEN UP AT HOME The United Nations refugee agency said 11,500 people had crossed into Benin and Ghana by Saturday, up from 7,000 on Friday. Many had sought shelter with relatives, while others were staying in churches along the border, it said. "They came to my house and searched it. I campaigned for the opposition. My husband was slapped and my children beaten up," said Evelyn, in her 50s, waiting at a transit centre on the border after fleeing her home town of Tsevie, north of Lome. Elvis Edorh, 25, said he too was beaten up at home in Aneho and had to swim across a lagoon to reach safety. "I swam and I got myself here. I lost two nephews who the security forces shot," he said. Interim president Abass Bonfoh has said no order was given to shoot at demonstrators and said that members of the security forces had died in the violence because they had respected that. The opposition says 100 people were killed around the country, while Togo's Human Rights League has said at least 40 were killed with many more wounded by bullets or missing. The U.N. said the camp at Come was now at capacity with 800 refugees, many of them women and children who were being given vaccinations against polio and measles. The U.N. said it expected to transfer 500 more to a new camp at nearby Lokossa. Aid trucks carrying tents, plastic sheeting, blankets and soap left Ghana's capital Accra on Saturday for Benin but the journey would take four days because the convoy would have to snake its way through Burkina Faso to avoid Togo, the U.N. said. Togo spun into chaos when Gnassingbe Eyadema died in February after nearly four decades in power and army leaders named his son, who eventually quit under fierce international pressure and agreed to elections, to replace him. Calm has returned to the streets of Lome although opposition supporters have vowed to fight on. West African mediators held talks with the government on Saturday to try to end the crisis, but refugees slammed the weakness of the international response. "We want our victory. Benin and other countries have to mobilise to help us. The authors of this violence will pay with their blood," said Evelyn.
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Imediatamente depois do anúncio  terça-feira passada dos resultados provisórios das eleições em Togo, na África,  estourou uma onde de  violência e agora reina o caos.  As forças de segurança atuaram ara conter os protestos dos manifestantes que alegam vantagens e fraude do candidato dirigente. 

Alguns dos líderes de oposição foram desarmados pelas forças do ordem e confinados a seus lares. Cerca de 40 cidadãos de Togo morreram durante os protestos.  As forças de segurança empregaram gases lacrimogênos e armas para controlar aos manifestantes.

Segundo o anúncio oficial, as eleições foram vencidas  por Faure Gnassingbé, filho do anterior governante de Togo, Gnassingbé  Eyadéma, que manteve o poder em Togo por cerca de 38 anos e morreu em 5 de fevereiro passado.  As forças armadas nomearam  seu filho como sucessor, mas a pressão regional e internacional obrigou a realizar eleições nesse país.

A  apuração preliminar indica que Faure Gnassingbé obteve 60% dos votos. Seu principal oponente,  Emmanual Bob-Akitani, que representa  seis partidos de oposição, obteve 38%. Espera-se que a violência se multiplique quando se anunciem os resultados definitivos dentro de alguns dias.

Marthe, uma refugiada que chegou a um campo de refugiados na vizinha Benin informou em entrevista para a agência Reuters que desde o anúncio dos resultados provisórios os comandos de boinas vermelhas saíram às ruas disparando. Segundo informou a jovem, procuram inibir os  jovens  de participar em manifestações,  depois realizam saques e culpam os feridos por essas ações. Segundo comunicado do   Alto Comissariado das Nações Unidas para os Refugiados (ACNUR).  , 11.500  togoleses se deslocaram para  Benin e Gana.

Segundo os partidos de oposição, são mais de 100 os mortos durante os protestos em Lomé e outras centros povoados. O grupo  togolês dos direitos humanos confirmou a morte de ao menos 40 pessoas  e uma  grande quantidade de feridos.

A violência não é a forma de chegar à democracia, afirmou Mohammed Ibn Chambas, secretário executivo da Comunidade Econômica de Estados da África Ocidental (ECOWAS). "Cremos que o caminho para os  togoleses é o diálogo.  As partes devem sentar-se e negociar." A  ECOWAS certificou as eleições como livres de interferência, uma decisão que aceitaram alguns países como a  França.  No entanto, os Estados Unidos da América continuam a denunciar a vantagem dada ao governo nestas eleições.

A Alemanha  protestou pela queima de seu centro cultural, o Instituto Goethe de Lomé. O governo togolês  acusou a Alemanha de ajudar a oposição,  o antigo ministro do interior Francois  Boko (que sofreu um tiro após tentar adiar as eleições,  por temer uma onda de  violência) obteve refúgio na Embaixada da  Alemanha. 

Togo foi colônia alemã, mas o idioma oficial do país é o francês. Togo obteve sua independência de França em 1960. 

Gnassingbé ofereceu a formação de um governo de unidade nacional, que incorporasse  vozes da oposição, mas seus líderes não aceitaram a oferta,  afirmando que a eleição foi fraudulenta e os resultados  manipulados.

"Se não aceitarem  unir-se amanhã, espero que o façam nos dias seguintes," afirmou  Gnassingbé ao diário francês ''Le Monde''. Ele continuou e disse que  "a reconciliação é um processo longo. Não se pode saltar de um dia ao outro de um regime que durou 38 anos até um novo".