The Dynamique Monseigneur Kpodzro (DMK), the main «umbrella» group of the Togolese opposition, was able to hold its first meeting this past Saturday after two years of bans due to the pandemic or security concerns.
The DMK meeting, which brings together seven opposition parties and six civil society groups, was held to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the assassination of President Sylvanus Epiphanio Olympio during the 1963 coup d’état.
Following their meeting, the DMK launched a declaration of principles in which they pledged to «fight to the last drop of our blood, so that Togo can be reborn», in a message directed against the current president, Faure Gnassingbé.
«The actors of the Togolese socio-political life and their partner the DMK wish the Togolese people and this, in the name of the year 2023, the end of the miltaroclanic dictatorship in Togo and the national re-foundation», they add in their declaration, collected by the portal Ici Lomé.
Similarly, the opposition demands «the release of all political and opinion detainees languishing in the prisons of the regime» of the UNIR (the Union for the Republic, the president’s party) as well as «the signing of a general amnesty allowing the peaceful return of all exiles and political refugees in Togo».
The DMK’s declaration comes at a critical moment for the security of Togo, after the President decreed in December the integration of the Ministry of Defense into his competences as head of state in the context of the increase of jihadist violence in the north of the African country.
Togo was relatively safe until recently from the jihadist violence that has devastated its northern neighbor, Burkina Faso, and other countries in the Sahel region for most of the past decade.
The Sahel area in particular, and now increasingly the Gulf of Guinea area, has become a priority for Al Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates operating in the region, which has seen a significant increase in attacks since 2015.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
