US embassy cable - 05ACCRA845

C O N F I D E N T I A L  ACCRA 000845 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
PARIS FOR CHARLES NEARY 
PRETORIA FOR TIM TRENKLE 
EUCOM FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/05/2015 
TAGS: GH, PGOV, PHUM, PREL, TO 
SUBJECT: TOGO OPPOSITION LEADER GILCHRIST OLYMPIO HEADING 
TO EUROPE 
 
REF: ACCRA 809 
 
Classified By: Polchief Scott Ticknor for reasons 1.5 d and e. 
 
1.  (C)  Summary:  On May 4, PolChief met again with Togolese 
opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio, at PolChief's request, 
to discuss recent developments. Olympio had just met with 
President Kufuor, who asked him if he would meet with 
Nigerian President Obasanjo again, and with Ghana's Foreign 
Minister, who encouraged him to support a government of 
national unity and reject violence.  Olympio is willing to 
meet with Obasanjo if he can guarantee implementation of the 
outcome of talks.  He will not make a unilateral call for an 
end to the violence (he wants the government to go first) and 
would be willing to cooperate in a government of national 
unity if it is based on the actual election results.  Olympio 
is leaving for Europe May 5 to lobby for EU, German and other 
support.  He still hopes for an international "convenor" of a 
dialogue.  End summary. 
 
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Meeting with the GOG 
-------------------- 
 
2.  (C)  Before traveling out of Ghana, Olympio paid a 
courtesy call on President Kufuor earlier on May 4 to thank 
him for the GOG's security and protocol assistance.  Olympio 
said Kufuor asked him if he would meet with Nigerian 
President Obasanjo again.  Olympio responded that he would 
meet with Obasanjo if the Nigerian President could guarantee 
implementation of the outcome of the talks.  His meeting with 
Kufuor was followed by a three hour meeting with Ghanaian 
Foreign Minister Nana Akufo Addo, who Olympio said was an old 
college friend.  According to Olympio, Kufuor and Akufo Addo 
had a misperception that the opposition was causing a lot of 
the violence in Togo.  Olympio made the case to them that the 
opposition was poorly armed with sticks and sling shots and 
that it was the army that was using guns and excessive force. 
 
 
3.  (C)  Akufo Addo encouraged the opposition to support a 
government of national unity and reject violence.  Olympio 
responded that the opposition agreed with this in principle, 
but "the question is who is going to run the show?"  The 
election outcome (a 10:1 opposition victory, he reiterated) 
would have to serve as a basis for a national government. 
The Togo government has refused a recount and the African 
Union, ECOWAS, and France refused to review the opposition 
election tallies, Olympio said.  The opposition did not want 
to serve as a minority partner to Gnassingbe.  Since the 
government is behind most of the violence, the government has 
to first call for an end to it, Olympio told Akufo Addo.  If 
the government called for an end to violence and took 
measures to implement it, the opposition would follow suit. 
 
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Searching for International Support 
----------------------------------- 
 
4.  (C)  Olympio plans to leave Accra May 5 for meetings with 
the European Union Commissioner in Brussels, and meetings in 
Germany and France.  He reiterated that "it is clear we can't 
find a solution alone...we need a white knight."  Olympio 
spoke to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on May 3, who said 
he would talk to Nigerian President Obasanjo about Togo. 
Olympio said the British told him frankly that they have no 
interests in Togo and are disinclined to get involved.  He 
said he had talked to ECOWAS Executive Director Chambas but 
had no faith in the organization and thought nothing 
productive had come from the ECOWAS meetings in Lome over the 
past weekend. 
 
5.  (C)  Olympio made another pitch for U.S. assistance as a 
"convenor" of a dialogue.  He said he might travel to the 
U.S. after Europe, although he conceded that the U.S. may not 
get involved because "Togo is far away."  He was more hopeful 
that the Germans, Dutch, or the EU might help.  So far the 
Germans have been sympathetic, although they told him "don't 
expect us to send the Luftwaffe to Paris" on Togo's behalf. 
Olympio thought there were different currents within the EU, 
some of them not necessarily supporting France.  Obasanjo 
 
could play an important role if he comes up with good, 
concrete proposals for compromise.  Olympio envisions a short 
term arrangement with rotating temporary presidents during a 
period leading up to clean elections.  Alternatively, Olympio 
suggested a UN Administrator could run Togo during an interim 
period. 
 
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Ending the Violence 
------------------- 
 
6.  (C)  PolChief pressed hard on the need for the opposition 
to publicly reject violence.  Olympio said the government 
needs to first stop killing people, adding that "the 
oppression is ferocious", with several hundred dead.  A 
statement of nonviolence cannot be unilateral.  Ordinary 
Togolese are being attacked by government forces, feel the 
need to fight back, and would not go along with a unilateral 
appeal for calm. 
 
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Comment 
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7.  (C)  Olympio had planned to leave Accra the night of May 
4 (after our meeting).  However, he said he was so exhausted 
from stress and lack of sleep that he postponed his trip by a 
day.  He does not know how long he will be away from West 
Africa but clearly sees a priority need to lobby western 
governments for support.  He is well connected in Europe and 
will start there.  He told PolChief he would have no 
difficulties returning to Ghana (despite some discomfort at 
his activism the GOG has been generally tolerant of his 
presence here).  His party is well organized and disciplined 
within Togo, implying that his proximity was not essential. 
In addition, phone connections work much better from Europe 
to Togo than from Ghana, he said, so he will be well 
connected to events in Lome. 
 
8.  (C)  He does not appear to be planning to return to Togo 
any time soon (and gave PolChief his Paris phone numbers). 
Unlike in our previous meeting (reftel), in which he said he 
would travel to Lome for an internationally-convoked 
dialogue, this time he was explicit that this kind of meeting 
could not take place in Lome for security reasons.  He noted 
that Akitani-Bob is in hiding and fears for his life.  Other 
opposition leaders are nervous but are hoping that staying 
near large numbers of supporters will deter military action. 
Olympio reminded PolChief, as he does in almost every 
meeting, that he had survived an assassination attempt. 
 
YATES 
 
 
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