TOGO: DOES THE RPT WANT TO PLAY BALL?

UNCLAS LOME 000432


STATE FOR AF/W, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL TO
SUBJECT: TOGO: DOES THE RPT WANT TO PLAY BALL?

REF: LOME 349


1. SUMMARY. On Nov. 16, Poloff met with the chief of staff of
the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Yawo Kpamatchou, to discuss his
recent trip to the U.S. for UNGA and the ruling party's,
Rally of the Togolese People (RPT),role in the 2010
presidential elections. Kpamatchou expressed great interest
in renewing contact with Embassy Lome and opined at length
about President Faure's presidential candidacy. (Note. See
reftel for a description of political players. End note.) END
SUMMARY.


2. Chief of staff Kpamatchou, also a leader of the RPT youth
group, met with Poloff to discuss the RPT's interest in
renewing ties with Embassy Lome. He alluded to the lack of
contact between the party and the embassy in the past, which
he admitted was mostly due to the absence of interest on the
RPT's part. He expressed great enthusiasm to strengthen the
party's relationship with the embassy, especially in light of
the upcoming election.


3. Kpamatchou spoke at length about President Faure's
candidacy and why he is the best candidate for the country's
well being. He views Faure as an arbiter who wants to reform
the RPT and to reason with the opposition in order to bring
together the two extremes: RPT as the ultra conservative and
the Union Force of Change (UFC),the main opposition party,
as the ultra radical. Kpamatchou spoke of former president
Eyadema, Faure's father, and said that there is no comparison
between the two, as Faure is a visionary and a reformist. He
stated that unless there is such an arbiter, the two extremes
would end up fighting instead of building and advancing the
country.


4. Kpamatchou stated several times that Faure strongly
cautions his supporters to avoid violence during the
elections. He pointed out that the RPT youth group is in
direct dialogue with the senior leadership. He hinted that
unless the party leaders give the go ahead, the youth group
would not act on their own. However, the RPT is suspicious of
the opposition's insistence that they will not be responsible
for any violence. They believe that the opposition will
purposefully sabotage the elections by rallying its own youth
group to violence. This is not too far fetched as the
opposition, especially the UFC, does have a tendency to
incite its youth to extreme actions.


5. When asked to confirm media speculation of whether or not
there are disagreements within the party about the reforms
Faure is attempting, Kpamatchou denied the existence of
intra-party clashes. However, when pressed further, he
offhandedly mentioned that some of the Faure - appointed
ministers have occasional disagreements with some of the
party old timers about the implementation of the ideas Faure
introduces. He also denied the media speculation that Faure
plans to form his own party if he wins the presidential
elections.


6. COMMENT. This RPT approach to Embassy Lome is long
overdue. Poloff believes that the RPT is beginning to
understand that in order to garner international support, it
has to learn to play ball with other teams. END COMMENT.


Hawkins