TOGO: UPDATE ON SECURITY SITUATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L LOME 000126


E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/16/2019
TAGS: PGOV ASEC TO
SUBJECT: TOGO: UPDATE ON SECURITY SITUATION

REF: A. LOME 120

B. LOME 119

C. LOME 115

Classified By: AMBASSADOR PATRICIA M. HAWKINS FOR REASONS 1.4(B)
AND (D)


1. (C) Summary. Parliamentarian and half-brother to President
Faure, Kpatcha Gnassingbe, remains in custody after being
arrested at the entrance of the U.S. Embassy the morning of
Wednesday, April 15 (ref A). The Togolese intelligence
agency, ANR, is currently in possession of a large weapons
cache purportedly removed from Kpatcha's residence. The state
prosecutor has issued several communiques addressing the
situation and has made public the terms of the arrest
warrant. The question of his parliamentary immunity from
arrest is already being widely discussed, and both local and
international press have kept up a steady stream of articles
on yesterday's incident. End Comment.


2. (C) ARSO met with Commandant Massina, director of the ANR,
late afternoon on April 15 at ANR headquarters. Massina said
that Kpatcha was being held there. Massina proceeded to show
ARSO a large weapons cache that he stated was taken from
Kpatcha's compound. According to ARSO's estimate, the cache
included several different types of high caliber machine
guns, sub-machine guns and various types of handguns. Police
and military uniforms were found with the weapons. Massina
also indicated that Kpatcha had given $1 million to a
Togolese army captain to recruit co-conspirators.


3. (U) The state prosecutor, Robert Bakai, stated in a
communique on April 13 that what happened at Kpatcha's
residence on April 12-13 was a reaction to evidence proving
that a coup attempt was imminent. Interestingly, the
statement said that a gendarmerie force went to the house to
question Kpatcha, and shots were fired (it does not indicate
who fired first; later eye-witness reports stated that the
Rapid Intervention Unit (FIR) charged the compound). The
warrant for Kpatcha's arrest was dated April 14 and was
signed by an investigative judge; the charges are 1)
attempted attack on state security and 2) the recruiting of
criminals under articles 4, 187, 229, 230 and 232 of the
Togolese Penal Code. Bakai issued a second communique on
April 15, which informed the public that the GOT had proof
that Kpatcha was involved in an attack against the security
of the state and again referenced the accusations against
him.


4. (U) The Executive Board of the National Assembly (NA)
issued a statement on April 16 which did not address the
issue of parliamentary immunity. It referenced the charges
brought by the state prosecutor and acknowledged the
seriousness of the crime. The communique, signed by the
President of the National Assembly, Abass Bonfoh, said that
the Executive Board would support the judicial authorities
with the process and asked that the parliamentarians and the
population stay calm and patient during the investigation of
this affair.


5. (U) The Union of the Forces of Change (UFC),the largest
opposition party, issued a surprisingly forceful condemnation
of the GOT's actions against Kpatcha. (Comment: The UFC
forcefully condemns every action taken by the GOT or the
ruling Rally of the Togolese People (RPT),so this position
should not be interpreted as support for Kpatcha. End
Comment.) The communique, issued on April 14 and signed by
Patrick Lawson, the first vice-president, points out that it
is illegal for security forces to go to a home at 22:00 to
question a suspect. In addition, the communique states that
even if questioning is necessary, it should never be carried
out by the military, let alone the FIR. Lawson, himself a
member of the National Assembly, notes that Kpatcha has
parliamentary immunity and that the NA had never received a
request to waive Kpatcha's immunity. He accuses the RPT of
continuing to involve the military in political debates. The
UFC requests that the NA start a debate in the current
session about impunity questions and respect for
parliamentary immunity, question the military about the
events of April 12-13, and put a commission in place to
investigate the same military operation.


6. (U) Both local and international press have reported
widely on the attack on Kpatcha's compound and his attempt to
take refuge at the Embassy. Local papers (although notably
not the pro-RPT newspaper Togo Presse) have shown numerous
photos of Kpatcha's destroyed house. French and English
newspapers have run the official Embassy statement, and only
a few have used the word "asylum;" most are correctly using
the word refuge. The reports indicating his presence on
Embassy grounds have been fairly ambiguous.


7. (C) Comment. The discovery of police uniforms indicates a
higher level of planning than was originally thought. EmbOffs
felt it unlikely that the coup plotters would be able to
coordinate the arrests of ten different people at different
locations, which was part of the plan, but throwing police
impersonators into the mix would have created chaos. The
information that Kpatcha paid such a large sum to recruit
co-conspirators raises once again the question of his
involvement in the drug trade, as it is hard to fathom
another way that he could have come by that much cash. The
GOT is making every attempt to follow the letter of the law
in this situation, and the Ambassador received the personal
assurances of the Prime Minister that the prisoners will be
treated fairly and humanely. The GOT also announced that the
United Nations High Commission for Human Rights
representative will be allowed frequent access to check on
the condition of the prisoners. The question of Kpatcha's
parliamentary immunity remains, but the Embassy has thus far
been satisfied with the legality of GOT actions. End Comment.

HAWKINS