07 September, 2017
Protests were staged Wednesday across the small West African nation of Togo with demands for an end to the five-decade dynastic hold on power by President Faure Gnassingbe and his family.
In 2005, hundreds of people were killed during violent protests following the death of Gnassingbe Eyadema and the election victory of his son.
Meanwhile, human rights group, Youth for Human Rights Africa (YoHRA) is concerned about the apparent silence of the worldwide community on the developments in Togo.
The government condemned the August protests, with the interior minister calling them extremist.
"Unir (Unite, the president's ruling party) calls for talks as soon as it is cornered", said Tikpi Atchadam, the head of the Panafrican National Party. The constitution had allowed for only two presidential terms.
USA -based company Dyn, which monitors the Internet, said traffic dropped off at 0900 GMT in what critics say was a move by the government to suppress protests as other African incumbents have done.
The current president, Faure Gnassingbe, took over in 2005 after the death of his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who came to power following a coup in 1967.
Meanwhile, a second day of protests has kicked off in the country after a successful first day (September 6) that saw hundreds of thousands march in the country's capital, Lome and other major towns.
The opposition is also demanding a return to the constitution of October 14, 1992, a revision of the electoral system and the right for the diaspora to vote.
The government announced late Tuesday that it had drafted a constitutional amendment for the limitation of mandates, calling it an initiative "to favor the preservation of a climate of peace and serenity".
Togolese main opposition leader Jean Pierre Fabre termed the government's last minute move to push the proposal to the legislature as "suspicious".
