Armed with sticks and stones and hardbitten desperation, Togo’s opposition movement waged a 38-year losing battle against the oppressive military regime of President Gnassingbe Eyadema.
After Eyadema’s death on February 5 was followed by the abrupt appointment of son Faure Gnassingbe in an army takeover, Togo’s new generation of protesters is dismissing people-power and grass-roots solidarity. They want guns, and lots of them.
Restless, jobless and short on patience, the youth of Togo’s beachfront capital say weaponry is the only way to bring down the Gnassingbe military dynasty, which has made fear and intimidation a bedrock of Togolese society.
Young people usually make up the majority of the thousands who hit the streets to protest the regime. Few are legitimate members of any one opposition group, yet all seem driven by the same bitterness and hatred towards their government.
With Eyadema having gutted the country’s economy during his three-decade rule, most Togolese youth say it’s impossible to find jobs after graduation. Many enter adulthood idle and living with their parents, who haven’t fared much better under the regime.
The young people’s cry for blood gives pause to older opposition figures, who say peaceful resistance is still the only way to win their struggle. ”Violence is never a solution,” veteran opposition leader Harry Olympio says.
Amid the tear gas of last week’s demonstrations, mobs of young people hurled rocks at police and set cars ablaze. They begged reporters to help them obtain machine guns, and the United States to send in the marines.
”Tell George Bush to send us guns,” they screamed, and ”We know how to shoot and we’re ready to die.”
Even as Togo’s government gives signs of yielding to international pressure to roll back changes it made to the Constitution to hand Eyadema’s son the presidency, young people from all over Lome say they’re hot for war.
”The young people have no force,” said one person calling himself LL Cool J, after the United States rapper. In a country where security forces routinely kick down doors to punish those critical of the government, nearly all the young people interviewed by The Associated Press refused to give their real or full names.
”People are dying here,” said Cool J (24), speaking near a bird-swarmed junkyard in Lome’s Be neighbourhood, an opposition stronghold. ”We are all ready to volunteer for the movement. All we need are guns and the proper training.”
After last week’s demonstrations, Gnassingbe praised his police force and criticised demonstrators for allegedly putting peaceful civilians at risk.
The opposition claims security forces have killed more than a dozen people. The government confirms only four deaths.
The European Union imposed sanctions on Togo in 1993 following allegations that security forces opened fire on democracy activists, killing about 20 people. At the time of internationally challenged 1998 elections, opposition members say Eyadema killed hundreds in their ranks.
”We’ve grown so used to these soldiers that we are not afraid,” said Coco (22) sitting in front of his home in Be, eating his breakfast of boiled fish. ”This is the big battle, and everyone feels this way.”
When someone announced the police were nearby, prowling the narrow sandy streets, Coco quickly retreated inside.
Bob Akitani, Vice-President of Togo’s largest opposition group, Union for the Forces of Change, found it discouraging that kids think weapons will solve their problems.
”Look, we can understand why they want guns,” said Akitani. ”But we’re telling them to be patient and wait for peaceful solutions.”
Olympio called for a period of calm after Saturday’s riots, fearing the mayhem would spiral out of control and distract from discussions between the government and West African leaders asking the president to step aside.
However, young people who participated in Saturday’s demonstrations say mere protests aren’t working.
On the shady campus of Lome University, where students say Eyadema often planted civilian spies to monitor dissent, Carrie (22) agrees.
”We have no way to defend ourselves,” said Carrie, who had long braids and pink-painted toenails. Her friends looked on in rigid silence, except to urge her to be quiet.
”It’s up to the international community to give us weapons,” she said. ”Striking and demonstrating isn’t doing us any good. We need guns to properly fight the government.”
Not all the young people are keen on their country taking the same destructive route as many of their African neighbours.
”We’re all waiting for leadership to change,” said Keith (20) sitting behind a grocery store in a congested market area of downtown Lome. ”I just don’t want people to die.”
Rap music blared from a nearby boom box, its heavy bass causing car windows to vibrate. A giant, colourful mural of slain rapper Tupac Shakur adorned a nearby wall.
Keith, who had a skull-and-crossbones tattoo on his meaty shoulder, took a long pull from a marijuana joint the size of a Cuban cigar and stared away, lost in his thoughts.
”Man,” he said. ”I don’t even like the word ‘guns.”’ – Sapa-AP