TOGO: Togo's main opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio is back from exile ahead of June's legislative elections

Record ID: 454685

  • Title: TOGO: Togo's main opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio is back from exile ahead of June's legislative elections
  • Date: 3rd May 2007
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF WOMEN SINGING AND SHOWING PICTURE OF OLYMPIO
  • Embargoed: 18th May 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Togo
  • Country: Togo
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6UVITIGDEBZQQI0P6N4OMA6L8
  • Story Text: Former exiled leader Gilchrits Olympio, returned to Togo on Friday (April 27), on the country's day of independence.
    The historic opponent of the Togolese government has been living in exile in Europe since an assasination attempt in 1992 when his motorcade came under fire.
    Olympio is the leader of the Togolese party, Union of Forces for Change (UFC) and arrived in Togo prior to legislative elections planned for June this year, to the joy of his supporters.
    "We are very happy that our leader has come back to Togo; With him, we'll win the next election," said Yema Afiademagno, a farmer from Nyive, a village on the border between Togo and Ghana.
    Olympio's first stop was in the town of Kpalime (120 km from Lome), known as a Togolese opposition stronghold, where he talked to his supporters.
    "Finally, I am home. I am happy about that. It is no accident if I chose this town of Kpalime. The struggle for independence of Togo started here and I know that we will win the coming elections from here. I know that with your support, we will continue the fight and win," Olympio told the thousands of people gathered in the town's football stadium to welcome him.
    Gilchrist Olympio, who has spent most of his life in exile, is the son of Togo's first president Sylvanus Olympio, who was killed in a coup in 1963.
    The regime of his father's successor lead by Gnassingbe Eyadema, who died in 2005, made all efforts to keep him away from his country.
    Olympio was sentenced to death twice by Eyadema's regime.
    After having spent several years in exile in Ghana, he went to London and Paris, from where he led the UFC.
    In exile, Olympio also spent some time in the United States where he studied and worked as an economist at the International Monetary Fund in Washington.
    Olympio survived an assassination attempt, in which several members of his delegation were killed, during a tour in the north of Togo in 1993. He was pushed aside in the 1993 presidential election for non conformity to medical certificates.
    He lost the controversial 1998 election and was again pushed aside in 2003 election for incomplete files.
    The return of Togo's main opposition personality was an opportunity for his supporters to celebrate and express the joy of meeting their leader again. Olympio enjoys a large following in the south, where people fondly refer to him as Yovovi - the son of the black, white man, because of his fair complexion.
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