Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
SG
Lomé (Agenzia Fides) - The Inter-Togolese dialogue on the restoration of the 1992 Constitution, launched last February 19 in Lomé (see Fides 21/2/2018) and suspended on 23 February, will resume on 26 March. This was confirmed by the parties in a note sent to Agenzia Fides. "We were received by the facilitator's representative and we reaffirmed the willingness of President Faure Gnassingbé to find a compromise with the opposition through dialogue", said the Minister of Labor and Administrative Reform Gilbert Bawara.
This information is also confirmed by the political parties gathered in the opposition coalition that had a confrontation with the Minister of the Interior of Ghana, Albert Kan-Dapaah, who brought them a message from Ghanaian president Nana Akufo Addo. Eric Dupuy, spokesman for the Alliance nationale pour le changement (ANC), member of the coalition of the 14 opposition parties, confirmed the resumption of dialogue.
In this framework, which hopes to be a harbinger of a peaceful agreement, the commitment of the Togolese Christian communities to foster dialogue remains high. The baptized of the various Christian denominations (see Fides 18/9/2017) represent about a third of the more than 6 million inhabitants of the African country. The Churches will organize meetings, vigils and liturgical celebrations to ask God for peace and to pray for the good of the country and for a future characterized by prosperity, freedom and justice.
In the meantime - according to local sources - the Coordination of the United Nations system, the Delegation of the European Union and the embassies of Germany, the United States and France (the so-called "Group of Five") met in Lomè with the coalition of the 14 opposition parties. In the statement released after the meeting, they invited the Togolese political actors, in particular those engaged in the dialogue process "to respect the commitments made in the framework of the first sessions of the intergovernmental-Togolese dialogue, which began on 19 February; to go beyond the principled positions and to engage without delay, in the interest of all the Togolese in order to reach an agreement on reforms; to respect the rule of law and the legal and constitutional provisions in force". It is necessary for the Togolese to "reach an agreement on a renewed and consensual democratic framework, so that the Togolese voters can express a choice in free and transparent elections", concludes the note. (SG/AP) (Agenzia Fides, 22/3/2018)
