Cracks Emerge in the Togolese Opposition’s United Front Against Gnassingbe

Cracks Emerge in the Togolese Opposition’s United Front Against Gnassingbe
Togolese citizens protest at European Union headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Aug. 31, 2017 (Photo by Wiktor Dabkowski for dpa via AP Images).

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, WPR Senior Editor Robbie Corey-Boulet curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent.

For well over a year, Togo’s notoriously fractious opposition managed to stick together. Beginning in August 2017, when thousands of people participated in rallies calling for the ouster of President Faure Gnassingbe, the various factions projected a united front even as the government used lethal force to disperse their supporters, implemented an internet shutdown and went ahead with controversial legislative elections.

That unity, however, may now be crumbling. Several parties have broken ranks with the coalition of 14 opposition parties known as C-14, multiple media outlets reported this week. According to Agence France-Presse, seven of the parties have left the coalition outright, though Radio France Internationale quoted one opposition supporter as saying that five of those parties had merely suspended their participation, meaning they could join up again.

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