I have been trying for days to find the right words to describe the outrageous behavior of President Jacques Chirac of France in the political turmoil that Togo has been facing.

After having endured the human right abuses of the dictatorial regime of General Eyadema for nearly 40 years (forty and counting), the people of Togo decided it was time to have courage and rid themselves of this shameless government. Despite the vicious attempts by the authorities to rig the elections and intimidate the opposition with political assassinations in a strategy of state-sponsored terror, the candidates of the freedom and democracy movement took part in the process. With the support of the populations of Togo, a candidate of the opposition, Mr. Bob Akitani, managed to win more votes than the cruel dictator.

Before and on Election Day, Eyadema and his group of hoodlums used all kinds of tactics to change the true expression of the people. Candidates were prevented from campaigning in certain areas of the country considered private turfs of the dictator, supporters of the opposition were arrested. On Election Day, ballots were stuffed, votes were bought by the right-hand men of Eyadema and witnesses were killed as they attempted to report frauds (see Amnesty Intl. Report).
And yet the populations went out and voted in large numbers for the candidates of the movement for democracy and freedom.

Today, the outcome of the elections is under consideration by the constitutional court and it appears that we have two candidates claiming victory. On one side a shameless group of evil politicians who have turned our country into their own private property and are using the stupidity, ignorance and greed of Eyadema as weapons of mass destruction; on the other side, a group of freedom fighters who have actually been chosen by the courageous citizens of Togo to bring a change under the leadership of Bob Akitani.

In this contest, decency will advise any honest foreign government to withhold judgment until at least a ruling by the constitutional court (even though we all know that the court itself has no real power as all courts in Togo have become instruments of oppression in the hands of general Eyadema). But president Chirac of France decided it was time to send a message of congratulations to the old dictator who, except for Fidel Castro, has been on power longer than any other president in modern history!

I would like to ask Mr. Chirac to tell me why he didn't send a message of congratulation to then-candidate Bush or Al Gore in November 2000 as the outcome of the election was still in dispute? Does Mr. Chirac believe that we the people of Togo and Africa in general, cannot choose our own leaders?

It is extraordinary for the leader of a country that has seen the victory of freedom fighters at the Bastille to support a corrupted dictator against the will of the people! And this is not the first time Mr. Chirac is taking such a dangerous position.

He has done it in former Zaire and we have seen the consequences, he declared some years ago that we the people of Africa were not mature enough for democracy (and yet we are hungry enough to fight for it), he has supported the cruel dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and turned the other way in the face of the suffering of millions of common people, and the list goes on and on…

Mr. Chirac, do you hear our people sing? Do you hear them cry for freedom? Do you remember the young boys and girls killed in 1991 as they attempted to topple one of the statues of General Eyadema in Lome, Togo (unlike the people of Iraq, we did not wait for any foreign intervention, please)?

Mr. Chirac, we would respectfully ask you to respect our desire for democracy and freedom. As you will see in the days ahead, our Bastille day is coming, our July 14 is on its way and, as one people, we will rise to topple the terrorist regime of general Eyadema.

Armstrong Dzidula Attivor