TOGO: CAR PARTY HOLDS CONGRESS, DISCUSSES FUTURE

UNCLAS LOME 000686


E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM TO
SUBJECT: TOGO: CAR PARTY HOLDS CONGRESS, DISCUSSES FUTURE
PLANS

REF: LOME 280


1. The third largest political party in Togo, the Action
Committee for Renewal, held its party congress October 17-18.
There were several unexpected surprises, including the
presence of the Union of the Forces of Change (UFC)
opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio and the election of a new
president of the CAR. The party presented a document with its
basic platform, the party further clarified several points
when the entire newly elected leadership called on the
Ambassador in November. While the CAR has made several high
profile changes in recent months, it continues its repetition
of the same basic statements, making it questionable as to
whether the party has any influence in Togo anymore. End
Summary.


2. The congress, only the second in the CAR's history, was
held at the fairgrounds near the airport, and was decorated
with festive red decorations. A large numbers of CAR party
members were in attendance, and the opening ceremony had a
definite party feeling. High-level representatives from all
the major parties in Togo attended, the most surprising being
UFC president Olympio, who splits his time between Paris and
Accra. The theme of the congress was "Mobilization for an
Alternative in 2010." In addition to the then-president of
the CAR, Yaovi Agboyibo, Olympio and Rally of the Togolese
People (RPT) representative Agbo spoke at the opening
ceremony.


3. The most unexpected change during the congress was the
election of a new president. Agboyibo has been the leader of
the CAR since the early 1990s, when the party was founded.
The reputation of the party is unquestionably linked to him.
Agboyibo is now an honorary president, and Mr. Dodji Apevon
is the president. The party also decided to wait to choose a
presidential candidate for the 2010 elections, but announced
that another meeting will be held within 6 months to decide
on the candidate.


4. The CAR issued a general declaration concerning the
political situation in Togo. The party claims that the crisis
in Togo today is essentially political in nature, and the
government is implementing its own policies instead of
following the decisions put in place by the government of
national unity, as was foreseen. The declaration calls for a
general reinforcement of democracy, decentralization, and the
further implementation of the Global Political Agreement
(GPA) of 2006 (Agboyibo played a leading role in the
formulation of that agreement). In a subsequent conversation
with the Ambassador, CAR leadership discussed the need to
stop thinking about the past, yet still discussed at length
the need to continue implementation of the GPA provisions. In
the same conversation, the members described the fear people
already have of the 2010 presidential elections and stated
that the international community should get involved.


5. The declaration also addressed the economy, social
affairs, sports and culture, and international politics. The
CAR party is concerned with specific aspects of the economy,
namely infrastructure, the energy crisis, corruption at all
levels of society, and inefficient parastatals. The
declaration repeats the party's position that the problems
stem from politics, and the high budgetary deficit, balance
of payments problems, and the unemployment rate are all
unacceptable. The social problems are mainly located within
the education, sanitation, and security sectors.


6. Comment. The change in party leadership seems to be a move
to guarantee the continued existence of the party in the
absence of Agboyibo, although he will more than likely be the
presidential candidate for 2010. The party keeps stating that
it wants to move into the future towards a better democracy,
yet it refuses to participate in any process that did not
stem directly from the GPA or Agboyibo's time as prime
minister. The arrival of Olympio at the congress was
significant, as he and Agboyibo have purportedly been at odds
recently, but Agboyibo's desire to unite behind a (CAR)
presidential candidate will not be realized, as Olympio is
already his party's candidate. With only 4 seats in the
National Assembly, the party needs to find a way to
distinguish itself if it wishes to continue to be a player in
Togolese politics. End Comment.


HAWKINS