Togo Leader Pledges to Prevent a Civil War

Black-clad, masked assailants torched a German cultural center Friday as Togo’s postelection violence continued, but the declared winner of the contested presidential vote vowed that he would not allow the country to slip into civil war.

Opposition coordinator Yawovi Agboyibo said 100 people had been killed and more than 300 wounded by government loyalists and security forces in violence that erupted after Sunday’s vote. The claim could not be independently verified, and government officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Agboyibo said the toll was compiled from opposition officials across the country. He said the government bused about 3,000 armed loyalists to Lome from the interior to help crack down on opposition supporters.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has said that at least 11 people were killed nationwide this week and at least 100 injured.

The United Nations, concerned about a growing stream of refugees fleeing to neighboring countries to escape the turmoil in Togo, appealed to politicians to peacefully resolve their dispute.

Faure Gnassingbe, the son of late dictator Gnassingbe Eyadema, was declared by election officials to be the winner of Sunday’s presidential vote.

Gnassingbe denounced the attacks and assured the world that war would not break out in the nation of 5 million.

“I have confidence in the forces of order and security and, most of all, in the political maturity and good sense of the Togolese,” Gnassingbe said in remarks published Friday.

“I do not think Togo will tip into civil war,” he told the French newspaper Le Monde. “Not, at least, as long as I am at the head of this country.”