Hundreds of Togolese flee to Ghana

....fearing election violence
AFLAO, Ghana - Hundreds of Togolese have fled to neighbouring Ghana fearing violence in their homeland during and after elections in which Africa's longest-serving ruler Gnassingbe Eyadema is seeking a return to office.

Koffi Dzameshi, deputy minister representing Ghana's Volta area, which borders Togo, told the Ghanaian government was bracing for even more refugees from Togo.

"There has been a flowover from the other side. We are setting up three refugee camps with the United Nations. Each camp can accommodate 600 persons.

"Already many people have come. We are tightening security along the border. There is peace here, the Togolese should not bring their problems to Ghana," he said Sunday.
"How long will they stay here? Difficult to say. That depends a lot on what happens between today and the swearing in."
Eyadema has ruled the tiny African state uncompromisingly for 36 years since wresting power in a coup in 1967, nevertheless for many Togolese he represents the best choice for stability for the country.
Opponents and right groups accuse Eyadema of corruption, torture and rights abuses.
Ghanaian officials said the Togolese came through the border town of Aflao, adjacent to Lome, the Togolese capital. Some others however walked in through the bush where border controls are virually non existent.
Linus Koffie, the administrative head of Ketu district, of which Aflao is a part, said "several hundred people from Togo had come in recent days obviously wanting to avoid problems during the elections.
"They bring back funny stories. Only yesterday a group of about 25 came. There were some Ivorian women among them, they said they had been raped by Togolese soldiers."
Theophilus Laiyea, a Ghanaian official at the Aflao-Lome border -- closed on the Togolese side since Saturday evening -- said: "The traffic from the other side has been significantly higher in the past few days."
A colleague of his added: "The Togolese stay with relatives and friends but keep a low profile. They are scared of retribution and do not open up top strangers."
Kaodama Koffi Luc, a 67-year-old retired soldier, who fled Togo 11 years ago, echoed the Ghanaian official.
"There is infiltration here, Eyadema has spies everywhere so people even when they come here are scared. Hundreds have come to be away from home during the polls," Luc, the head of the local Togolese refugee association, said.
"There is a general fear in Togo. People hate the general but he has muzzled them. Why is there no revolution? Because the interior ministry in 1975 decided under his sage advice to seize all arms and hunting equipment.
"Now only Eyadema's men are armed. And he has muzzled my people. I cannot go home as long as this mister sits on the throne," he said.
Eyadema proclaimed himself head of state in 1967 after the coup, and his position was confirmed by a plebiscite in 1972. He was elected in 1979 and 1986, when he was the only candidate.
Several hundred people lost their lives in political and social unrest in the early 1990s, but in 1993 and 1998 Eyadema also won elections in polls boycotted or contested by the opposition.
Last year parliament amended the constitution, dropping any reference to a two-term presidential limit and paving the way for another term in office for Eyadema.
Of the five candidates running against him in the current election, four are former members of the ruling party. The opposition has failed to unite and put up a common candidate -- an added advantage for the president.
The main opposition leader, Gilchrist Olympio, has been barred from Sunday's polls as the electoral commission said his dossier was incomplete.