Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06LOME447
2006-04-21 15:11:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Lome
Cable title:  

TOGO: NATIONAL DIALOGUE UNDERWAY -- ALL PARTIES ON

Tags:  PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM TO 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO0795
OO RUEHPA
DE RUEHPC #0447 1111511
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 211511Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY LOME
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7014
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN PRIORITY
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L LOME 000447 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

PARIS FOR D'ELIA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/21/2013
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM TO
SUBJECT: TOGO: NATIONAL DIALOGUE UNDERWAY -- ALL PARTIES ON
BOARD

REF: (A) LOME 0418 (B) LOME 0332 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: AMBASSADOR DAVID B. DUNN, REASONS 1.4 (B AND D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L LOME 000447

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

PARIS FOR D'ELIA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/21/2013
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM TO
SUBJECT: TOGO: NATIONAL DIALOGUE UNDERWAY -- ALL PARTIES ON
BOARD

REF: (A) LOME 0418 (B) LOME 0332 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: AMBASSADOR DAVID B. DUNN, REASONS 1.4 (B AND D)


1. (SBU) Summary. Following a prelimary launch last November,
the Togolese national dialogue resumed in earnest on April

21. The opening came after much controversy concerning the
venue and need for an outside mediator/facilitator, including
a boycott threat by the principal opposition party. All
parties to the dialogue participated in the opening session,
chaired by Prime Minister Edem Kodjo, who presumably will
continue in that role. A Burkinabe minister representing
President Blaise Campaore, once considered the leading
candidate to facilitate the dialogue, is attending as an
observer. The Prime Minister's opening speech, delivered on
behalf of President Faure Gnassingbe, was conciliatory and
forthcoming in terms of the subjects to be addressed in the
dialogue -- all major opposition grievances are on the table.
End Summary.


2. (U) Ambassador attended the opening substantive session of
the Togolese national dialogue on Friday, April 21.
Invitations to the opening were not issued until late
Thursday afternoon, although the Friday launch had been
rumored over the past several days and the participants
themselves had received notification earlier (see septel
report of April 20 meeting with opposition leaders).


3. (C) In the end, all the major parties to the dialogue
attendeIOat a senior level, including Patrick Lawson and
Jean-Pierre Fabre of the Union of Forces for Change (UFC).
(UFC president Gilchrist Olympio, who resides in Paris, was
never expected to attend, though the UFC has announced a
three day visit to Lome by Gilchrist in connection with
Togolese independence day April 27.) The UFC had threatened
publicly to boycott the dialogue if a: there were no outside
facilitator, or b: it were held outside Togo; it thus got
half of what it wanted. More important to the UFC's decision
to participate, in the Embassy's view, was its desire not to
miss the opportunity to have its views heard or to test the
GOT's intentions, a point that we have pressed.


4. (SBU) President Faure's address, delivered by the prime
minister, struck the right notes. He began by saluting the
memory of past victims of political violence, especially in
recent (i.e., last year's) events. Referring to the
consulations that had taken place among parties to the
dialogue since the official launch last November, he said the
process ultimately had demonstrated consensus on the broad
objectives of the dialogue as well as the mechanics. He
characterized the GOT's 22 engagements to the EU in the areas
of democracy, human rights, and governance as the cornerstone
of the dialogue but promised that the government would not
dodge other key issues identified by the participants, among
them the return of the refugees from last year's violence,
compensation to the victims of that violence, reform of
Togo's security services, and the wider question of impunity
(an opposition watchword for abuses by the Eyadema regime,
including ethnic favoritism).


5. (SBU) Although clarification is still lacking on some of
the mechanics to be followed, the participants seem satisfied
with the prime minister serving as chair, at least in the
opening stages, the roughly ten day duration, and the Lome
venue. As chair of the dialogue, the prime minister's
affiliation with a political party other than Eyadema's RPT
gives him greater acceptability (if not credibility, as some
in the opposition have accused him of selling out).


6. (C) Comment. The GOT's patience in ensuring that all
parties could accept the dialogue in the form that it is
(finally) taking place has paid off, at least for now.
Although the lead-up has been messy and has seen a number of
outside playeCL come and go, notably regarding the question
of a mediator, the ability of the Togolese parties to make
the necessary compromises is cause for cautious optimism
regarding the dialogue itself. Key stumbling blocks, in the
Embassy's view, will be the questions of military ref lm and
guarantees/enforcement mechanisms to ensure that what is
agreed actually takes place. End Comment.


DUNN