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The Togo presidential elections are now due to be held on March 4 following protests from the main opposition parties. The election which was originally set for February 28 has now been delayed until March 4 following opposition protests.

A presidential decree read out on state television announced on Thursday “The date for the presidential election is fixed for Thursday, March 4. Polling stations will be open from 07:00 to 17:00 throughout the country.”

The delay comes in response to a request from the opposition during talks in Burkina Faso with President Blaise Compaore who is mediating inter-Togolese dialogue.

“With the aim of permanently seeking consensus and maintaining a peaceful climate during the electoral process, the head of state (Faure Gnassingbe), in consultation with Compaore, decided during a cabinet meeting to delay the election.”

Campaigning for the presidential election in Togo started on February 16 and will last until March 2, meanwhile Togo’s main opposition parties have quit the commission organising the presidential elections.

President Faure Gnassingbe of the Togolese People’s Rally, Gnassingbé was initially installed as President with support from the army following the death of his father Gnassingbé Eyadéma Doubts, whom was President of Togo from 1967 until his death.

Faure Gnassingbe’s unconstitutional accession was later confirmed by electora1 fraud, when following pressure from neighbouring African nations Faure Gnassingbé, resigned on February 25. He then won a controversial presidential election on April 24 and was sworn in as President again.

The 2005 Presidential election fraud was recorded in the film ‘Masquerade’ which documents the fraudulent presidential elections in the west African state of Togo in 2005, the film was edited and produced by Jaarice in Burkina Faso and released in 2007. The film Masquerade was the subject of a previous Paxmundi.info article here. (more…)

On 17 December Aminatou Haidar who has been on a hunger strike for 32 days at the airport in Lanzarote, returned in triumph and dignity to her homeland in the western Sahara.

On her return to Laayoune Aminatou was greeted by more than 300 supporters with shouts of ”Viva Aminattou!”, ”Sahara libre!” and ”Victory!”

Sahrawi activist Aminatou Haidar, has managed a major propaganda coup with her hunger strike, she has captured the attention of the international community for her cause.

The Moroccan Government has had to concede in the face of intransigence from Aminatou Haidar, her courage has forced the international community to remember the illegal occupation of Western Sahara.

Haidar has returned to her land unconditionally without apologizing to King Mohammed VI of Morocco or publicly recognize Moroccan nationality as the Moroccan Government demanded during her 32 day hunger strike.

Haidar, was hospitalized this week after she suffered internal bleeding, this forced Morocco to concede out of fear that if she died she would have become a very prominent Sahrawi martyr.

Following the agreement, Haidar said her return to El-Ayoun is”a triumph for justice, international law, human rights and the Saharawi cause.” (more…)

Since assuming responsibility as head of the UNHCR in March this year, Christian Salazar has been charged with promoting and seeking to protect the rights of all Colombians.

In an interview with El Espectador, Salazar denounced serious problems such as the blocking of investigations into cases of extrajudicial killings in the prosecution, the growing threats against human rights defenders and judicial sector, the violence committed by groups and post-conflict, what more it reveals, assassinations duplication of leaders and members of indigenous people.

How has enforced disappearance changed in recent years in Colombia?

It (enforced disappearance) is fairly old, the UN recorded the first case in Colombia in 1973.

The office handles about three different phases. The first, in the 90s, when selective disappearances were committed against the opposition, NGOs and alleged guerrilla sympathizers. Many of these disappearances were committed by members of the security forces. The second was at the end of the decade and early this, when the paramilitaries were the main actors and the forced disappearance was combined with mass atrocity. In recent years, we are concerned that the missing are more and more young and live in marginal areas of the country. This practice has to do with the misnomer of “false positives”. Post demobilisation paramilitary groups also perform more and more disappearances. (more…)