Togo's health ministry is throwing its weight behind new combination drugs in the fight against malaria but their high price-tags put them beyond the reach of many people, who turn instead to traditional remedies and black market medicines. Malaria kills an African child every 30 seconds, according to the World Health Organisation, which says one of the greatest challenges facing the continent is the parasite's increasing resistance to established treatments such as chloroquine, the cheapest and most widely-used antimalarial.

Rubbish, dumped in gutters, is choking up the crumbling sanitation works that poorly service the capital Lome, worsening flooding in the rainy season and encouraging the spread of disease complain residents and health workers.

The Togo League for the Defence of Human rights has submitted an independently compiled list of prisoners it claims have been detained by the Togolese authorities to the EU fact-finding mission, which has just completed a four-day evaluation tour of Togo. The Togo government gave a pledge to the EU in April to carry out wide ranging democratic reforms including the release of political prisoners, and persons detained by reason of their belonging to the opposition parties or for criticisms of the Togo government.

Togo's main university has reopened after being closed for most of May following student demonstrations to demand better grants and living conditions, but the students at the University of Lome have now decided to boycott their end of year exams. The protest action is being taken to demand the release of several student leaders jailed after the earlier disturbances.

Political talks between the Togolese government and opposition parties officially opened last Thursday under pressure from the European Union (EU) despite the absence by main opposition parties. Some 26 political parties were invited to participate in the opening ceremony of the first political talks to be held since 1999. The EU is currently putting pressure on Togo to improve democracy, one of the conditions to lift ten-year-old sanctions against the country.

Togo's Justice Minister Foli Bazi-Katare has said there are no political prisoners in the country. "All these prisoners were convicted by the courts as common criminals," he said after talks with the European Union on ending a ban on economic aid. "None of the prisoners had been jailed for expressing divergent political opinions," he said. The EU froze aid to Togo in 2003 over the country's lack of democracy and poor human rights record.

Dozens of newspapers, scores of radio stations and five television channels…At first glance, Togo seems like a media junkie’s dream destination. But does being spoilt for choice translate into press freedom? This question has received an airing in recent days, thanks to a report by the Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontieres – RSF), and the response it drew from Togolese Communication Minister Pitang Tchalla. In the report, issued to coincide with World Press Freedom Day (May 3), RSF claims that the Togolese government continued its attacks against the independent media in 2003.

On Monday, May 5, 2004, staff of the 'Nana FM' radio station went on strike to protest the assault on their colleague, Yves Kpéto, by state security forces. Yves Kpéto, a reporter with the 'Nana FM' radio station, as well as K. Amouzouvi, of the weekly 'Le Combat du people' newspaper, were on Friday, April 30, 2004, brutalised by security forces when they went to the Université de Lomé campus to cover a demonstration by students of the university. They both sustained severe injuries. According to Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)-Togo sources, the staff of 'Nana FM' have since the morning of May 5, been playing only music on the station, to sympathise with their colleague.

The government of Togo has closed the country's main university for an indefinite period following several days of protest by students which led to violent clashes with the security forces. The disturbances were the worst seen in Togo for several years. Charles Kondi-Agba, the Minister for Higher Education, announced on Sunday that the University of Lome had been closed until further notice "in order to facilitate a genuine and constructive dialogue with the students."

Togo is hoping to restore normal diplomatic and economic relations with the European Union by promising to adopt a series of reforms aimed at improving democracy in the country and respect liberties. Togolese government delegates opened talks with EU representatives in Brussels on 14 April. The Togolese government subsequently drew up a list of 22 commitments, promising, amongst other things, "to guarantee political parties the ability conduct their activities without fear of harassment" and "to ensure a transparent and democratic electoral process in the coming six months".

The organisation’s website (http://www.diastode.org/index.html) features harrowing pictures of what it describes as the ongoing human rights abuses in Togo.

In downtown Lome there is an area known locally as “The Child Market,” where girls as young as nine are offered for sex, sometimes for less than a dollar. Child welfare groups complain that Togo lacks strong laws to punish the pimps who ruthlessly exploit these children. And the kids themselves complain that the police who patrol the district and are supposed to protect them, simply demand sex for free. Many of these girls have been separated from their families. Others have simply been abandoned. Most are illiterate. Being alone in the world all of them are highly vulnerable to exploitation by pimps and brothel keepers.

A study just completed in Togo has revealed high levels of child abuse in the West African state. Almost 370 men, women and children were surveyed for the study, which found instances of paedophilia, illegal child labour, trafficking – and discrimination against children who were disabled, or from certain ethnic groups.

Togo has just opened its second university in the northern town of Kara, but the government can not afford to build a campus for it yet, so its lecturers and students are having to make do with the buildings of a former teacher training college. The government laid the foundation stone of Kara university four years ago, but it is still sitting in an empty field.

Ayele Ajavon is a happy woman, so she believes. After she was divorced by her husband, she sought solace in the church. ''I turned to the church and found a job and a new partner,'' says Ajavon, now a secretary in the capital Lome. But Ajavon cannot take any step or decision without consulting her pastor who also happens to be her ''new partner''. And she donates part of her salary to the church, as tithe.

The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN says it is "deeply concerned" by the continued detention of three journalists on charges of "publishing false information and disturbing public order." The journalists concerned are Dimas Dzikodo and Philipe Evegno, editor-in-chief and publication director respectively of the weekly newspaper L'Evenement, and Jean de Dieu Kpakpabia, journalist with the weekly newspaper Nouvel Echo.

Three private media practitioners, Dimas Dzikodo (Editor) and Philipe Evégnon (Managing Director) of the L'Evénement newspaper, as well as Jean de Dieu Kpakpabia , a reporter with the Nouvel Echo weekly, were arrested and detained over the weekend in Lomé, capital of Togo. Dzikodo was first arrested on Saturday, June 14, 2003, from an internet café where he went to scan pictures of persons who had been assaulted and injured by state security personnel during the recent presidential elections held on June 1.

Dimas Dzikodo and Philip Evégnon, editor-in-chief and editor, respectively, of the private weekly "L'Evénement", as well as Colombo Kpakpabia, a journalist with the private weekly "Nouvel Echo", were arrested by police officers on 14 and 15 June 2003. They have since been detained and questioned at national police headquarters in the capital, Lome. The journalists have been accused of "distributing false news" with the intent of damaging the country's reputation.

The ruling RPT party, the former state sponsored party of Togo, was formed in the historical town of Kpalime in 1969. But significantly, the people of Kpalime in the Kloto district voted massively against President Eyadema in Sunday's polls by giving the opposition candidate Bob Akitani a whoppish 89.573 votes while reserving for the incumbent only 28.082 votes. According to observers here, this development amounted to a total rejection of the former ruling Togo Peoples Rally in the Kioto district of Southern Togo. The trend also represented a kind of voting along ethnic loyalties. This has deeply polarised Togo into two distinct political divisions, the north and the south.
Related Links:
* Fall-Out From Presidential Election: Togo to have 3 heads of state?
http://allafrica.com/stories/200306110880.html

Togolese security forces clashed on Tuesday morning with demonstrators in the streets of the capital Lome following the arrest of independent presidential candidate Nicolas Lawson and the spokesman of the main opposition party Union of Forces for Change, Jean-Pierre Fabre.