Togo braces for poll result after three killed

LOME - Scared people stayed at home in Togo's capital yesterday, a day after a presidential poll ended with clashes in which three people were killed, fuelling fears of more bloodshed when results of the tarnished vote come out.

Shops, banks and some schools were shut. A helicopter gunship clattered over the opposition stronghold of Be. Two pickup trucks with mounted machineguns patrolled there and the pop of tear gas canisters being fired could be heard.

All sides in the election, meant to choose the West African nation's first new leader in nearly four decades, have voiced allegations of fraud and intimidation, intensifying fears that whatever the results may be they will still spark protests.

"Everybody is scared. We're waiting for the results but we think they will steal these elections and that's when people will take to the streets," said Jean, 25, an opposition supporter in the Be neighbourhood of Lome.

African leaders are keen to avoid another conflict in a region already shaken by wars. A Nigerian official said a Togolese delegation was due in Abuja for talks on Monday with President Olusegun Obasanjo, head of the African Union (AU).

The poll pitted Faure Gnassingbe, the 39-year-old son of Togo's former president Gnassingbe Eyadema, against a coalition of six opposition parties and effectively became a referendum on nearly four decades of repressive rule by Eyadema's northern clan.

Gnassingbe was named president by the army, in violation of the constitution, when his father died on Feb. 5 but agreed to step down and hold polls after an international outcry.

The opposition coalition named a single candidate, Emmanuel Akitani-Bob, 74, to challenge Gnassingbe.

Diplomatic sources said three people were shot and killed in flashes of post-poll violence in some Lome districts on Sunday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had treated or hospitalised some 30 people, seven seriously hurt.

A Foreign Ministry official in Nigeria said the Togolese delegation would discuss a "peaceful environment" following the polls.

"The president (Obasanjo), as AU chairman, has an interest in avoiding instability and particularly in Togo because it is in our immediate sub-region," the official said.

There was no immediate word on when the results of Sunday's election would be announced, but already the country's main opposition leader said he would probably not accept them.

"We are watching the situation very closely. There was massive fraud and I really doubt that we will accept these results," Gilchrist Olympio told Radio France Internationale.

Olympio could not run for president as he has lived outside Togo since he fled in 1992 after an assassination attempt. But he is still the most charismatic of opposition leaders and many see Akitani-Bob, number two in Olympio's party, as a stand-in.

Softly spoken Gnassingbe said on Sunday he was confident he would win. He pledged to form a government open to all parties if victorious and fight for more justice and freedom.

In Be, where streets were littered with stones, rocks and bits of burnt tyres on Monday, people have pledged to take to the streets if the ruling party declares victory.

The opposition says voter lists were grossly inflated in some areas and that the distribution of electoral cards was skewed to favour the ruling party.

Clashes broke out on Sunday when security forces tried to take ballot boxes out of polling stations in Be. The acting interior minister said they had been told to take the boxes away if it was not safe to count them on the spot.

- REUTERS