LOME, Togo, October 6 (Infosplusgabon) – Togolese opposition leader Jean-Pierre Fabre has lashed out at key international bodies urging the West African country’s political actors to hold a referendum on term limits as being pushed by the government.
He told demonstrators at the end of a march in Lome on Thursday that the international community could not dictate terms to them, stressing that all the opposition wanted was a return to the 1992 Constitution.
« The outside world will not dictate their laws to us, » said Fabre, commenting on a joint communiqué issued by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), African Union and the UN Office for West Africa and Sahel (UNOWAS), calling on the Togolese government to « set a date for the referendum on the constitutional bill ».
« What Togolese are demanding is not the holding a referendum, but a return to the 1992 Constitution, with its consequences, that is, the departure of President Faure Gnassingbé.
Fabre also criticised ECOWAS which, according to him, was an institution used to « sanction abuses of power ».
« ECOWAS, we don’t care! They don’t give us orders. It is Togolese who decide for their fate, » he said.
Fabre urged the African Union, « to look seriously into the Togolese dossier before giving their opinion ».
On Wednesday, ECOWAS, AU and UNOWAS made public a joint communiqué urging restraint by Togolese political actors and to hold a referendum.
This appeal angered the opposition whose supporters took to the streets on Thursday.
FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/EDE/GABON 2017
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