Togo Regime, Foes Trade Charges After Vote

The government and the main opposition group, which boycotted Togo’s presidential elections this week, accused each other Friday of killing 15 militants in a central village.

The government said the militants who died in the village of Agbandi, 35 miles south of the central town of Sokode, had been poisoned with food delivered to them in prison by members of the opposition Committee for Renewal.

But the opposition blamed security forces, and CAR leader Yawovi Agboyibo said that the accusations were part of a plot by President Gnassingbe Eyadema and Prime Minister Joseph Koffigoh to incriminate him.

“These are reprisals for the boycott of the election,” Agboyibo said. “How can you possibly say people from CAR killed their own supporters? This is a prelude to arresting me.”

Eyadema, who took power in 1967 in Africa’s first successful post-independence coup, won Wednesday’s disputed presidential elections with up to 98% of the vote in some places. But the boycott kept turnout low.

A government statement said that security forces had arrested 40 people Thursday for attacking electoral officials and destroying voting equipment the day before in Agbandi.