France Ready to Block Togo Coup Attempt

France prepared Friday to block an attempted coup by soldiers who want to restore Gen. Gnassingbe Eyadema to power in this former French colony, French sources said.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Daniel Bernard told reporters that France was “making all preparations” to secure the safety of 3,000 French citizens in Togo and that country’s transition to democracy.

Eyadema, himself saved by a French intervention in 1986, told reporters he opposes military intervention because Togo is a sovereign state.

He said he believes in a political solution, though he failed Friday to coax the rebel soldiers to stop besieging the oceanside palace of reformist Prime Minister Joseph Koffigoh, which they surrounded with tanks Wednesday.

The soldiers were trying to starve Koffigoh out, refusing to let food into his complex. Sources close to Koffigoh said the palace had run out of tea and coffee and was low on other food.

At least 50 palace guards as well as two advisers were believed to be with Koffigoh.

Koffigoh asked France on Thursday to send troops, and it dispatched 300 paratroopers and marines to Cotonou, in neighboring Benin. Cotonou is a 30-minute flight from Lome.

The small nation of Togo, sandwiched between Benin to the east and Ghana to the west, became independent from France in 1960. The West African nation’s population is 3.5 million.

On Thursday, the dissidents threatened to “reduce the city to ashes” if Eyadema did not name a new government. This amounted to a demand for the reinstatement of Togo’s military ruler for 24 years, who was stripped of all but ceremonial powers by Koffigoh’s government in August.

At least 23 civilians have been killed since soldiers rebelled Wednesday.

This week’s violence was triggered by the Koffigoh government’s banning of Eyadema’s party, Rally of the Togolese People, the sole legal party during his rule.

The U.S. Embassy in Lome issued a statement condemning the attempted coup, saying any government resulting from it would be unacceptable, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.