Tread cautiously on Togo crisis – Aning

The Government of Ghana must be tactful in any mediation moves it embarks on, as efforts by opposition parties to end the reign of the Eyadema dynasty in Togo heightens, Dr Kwesi Aning, Director of the Faculty of Academic Affairs & Research, Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), has said.

He was of the view that there are several dynamics at play and leaders in Ghana who try any mediatory moves must be wary not to engage in any actions that will rather have dire consequences.

He said there are actions being taken to ensure that peace is restored in Togo “but because of the Supreme sensitivities of our historical relationships with Togo, Ghana must tread cautiously”.

Violence erupted in certain parts of Togo after a series of protests to restore the 1992 Constitution which prescribes the tenure of office of a sitting president for Togo.

The protestors say they are fed up with the governance of the country by the Gnassingbe family in almost 50 years of power, coupled with corruption, oppression, unaccountability, misuse of public funds and abuse of power to the detriment of citizens.

Seven people are reported dead, as fresh waves of protests are expected in the coming weeks.

The current Togolese President, Faure Gnassingbe, is also the current ECOWAS President.

Dr Aning, who was contributing on a discussion to the development on Class FM’s World Affairs programme on Friday, August 25 told the host, Etse Sikanku, that: “Ghana is intervening at multiple levels but it is not in the eye of the public…there are already consultations with other Heads of States, Foreign Ministers and Chief of Defence Staffs as to what can be done if it gets out of hand so there are multiple levels at which intervention is taking place.”

However, he was of the view that: “One of the challenges for Ghana is that the person who ought to call a meeting is himself a party to the crises, so we are thinking about, how do we circumvent the institutional lacuna here and get AU to act because if the AU does not act, then the UN Security Council will have to act because there are three African members on that Council and in New York, there are conversations going on and everybody is watching.”

For him, the most important question is: “How do we ensure that we can use the institutional mechanisms and framework plus the personal networks and relationships that the Heads of States have to ensure that this does not turn into some bloodbath?”