Voodoo and democracy

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"Issuing useless communiques and condemnations by toothless organizations such as the African Union and the ECOWAS group (of West African countries) won't get democracy restored anywhere on the continent, especially in Togo. It is simply pathetic. It won't work...What happened in Togo is a disgrace and shameful. It would greatly set back the course of democratization in Africa."

(Ghana's National Democrat in February 2005).



I've just had an enjoyable stay in Togo, but back in February, knowing that I intended to visit Togo, I was worried that things there might turn ugly.



Lome, the capital could be a beautiful city, the country prosperous and the tourism industry vibrant.



For those of you that don't follow African politics on February 5th, Africa's longest serving President in power Gnassingbe Eyadema died. He had run the country for 38 years. Frankly, you don't stay in power that long unless you rig elections. In fact EU countries had withdrawn aid from Togo because of Eyadema's record. A joint United Nations and European Union panel in 2001 concluded that there had been systematic violations of human rights.



When Eyadema died, the army installed his son Faure Gnassingbe, who they probably saw as pliable to the military elite.



The army though probably wasn't expecting the reaction to their coup. There were demonstrations of thousands of people in Lome, some of which turned violent. Also, the African Union and ECOWAS took exception, with the objections being led by West Africa's economic heavyweight, Nigeria. President Oleusegun Obansanjo of Nigeria said;

"All African leaders should not accept what has happened in that country until there is a democratic transition."

( I personally find Obansanjo's new found love of democracy hard to stomach - he is also a former military ruler).



The events in Togo are a test case for ECOWAS and the African Union. Sanctions were imposed on Togo. After 3 weeks Faure Gnassingbe stood down as interim president, although he is standing as the governing party's candidate in the upcoming elections on April 24th. When Faure stood down as interim president ECOWAS sanctions were removed.



So, although I have now left Togo, I will be following the news to see what happens on and after April 24th.



That's the political background to Togo. I will now return to my own more mundane personal diary, leaving off from where the last blog ended.

SAT 26 and SUNDAY 27th

I was at this point still in Ghana. It was Easter weekend, so I did nothing much, although I did change hotel to a cheaper place on the Sunday. I changed hotel because the Hotel President was closer to the bus which I intended to catch at 7.30am on Monday morning. It was also a much cheaper place costing only 130000 Cedis, that is less than 8 pounds sterling. The Hotel President only had an ineffective fan - so I had an uncomfortable night and didn't sleep much Sunday night.

MONDAY 28th

I got up at 5.30am in the morning in order to catch the STC coach to Afloa, which is the border town for Togo. The bus for once arrived roughly on time at 7.30am. Which meant I was at the border at 10.30am. I had to buy a Visa at the border, so I didn't clear the border till 11.30am. I evaded all the taxi's at the border as I intended to walk into Lome. The centre of Lome is only 2km's from the border post. I walked one km and booked into the Auberge Le Galion, which cost me 12000 CFA (12 pounds sterling). For that I got a room with an old air conditioner. I rested for 2 hours to cool off from the heat.



At 2pm I went out and walked around town getting very hot and sweating a lot. I found a restaurant at about 3pm which had an air conditioner - I could cool off.



After a late lunch I walked back to the hotel, where I met a French couple I had last seen in Mali. In the evening I ate in a restaurant attached to the hotel next door. They were so grateful for any custom. In fact that was a pattern everywhere in Togo - they are desperate for tourists.

TUESDAY 29th

I went out at 8am to find it was already too hot. I found the nearest bank had no ATM and went to an Internet Cafe. I needed to get some money. Walking along the road I met the French couple I had seen yesterday. I walked back to the hotel at 9.30am to wash off the sweat!



I then spent the morning in a search for an ATM that worked!I'd been spoilt in Ghana, where all the banks have ATM's that work. In Lome even if the bank has any ATM's, they don't work or won't accept VISA. I again saw the French couple as I was walking around. Finally at 11am I found a bank with a functioning ATM. It was the headquarters of BTCI. It had a bank of 6 ATM's, only one out of 6 of the machines was working.



After that I went back to the restaurant I had used for lunch the previous day. At 2pm, after lunch, I returned to my room to wash the sweat off and hide from the heat.



I didn't go out again till 7.30, when I had a pleasant meal in a Chinese restaurant.

WEDS 30th

I got up early, so I could get things done before the heat of the day made things difficult. I caught a moto-taxi (a small motorbike) to the headquarters of the BTCI Bank in order to get some more money - I had noticed in the guide book that there are no ATM's in Benin or Niger. Travelling on a motorbike meant a perilous journey weaving in and out of the rush hour traffic at 8am. The rush hour in Lome looks a bit like a bikers convention!



After getting money from the ATM I caught another moto-taxi to the Marche to Feticheurs. This market is a specialist animalism or 'voodoo' centre, full of animal parts used in producing magical charms (fetishes) and traditional medicines. For instance dogs heads are used for treating rabies. The principle seems to be that a cure is used that is similar to the illness. A guide showed me around the market and explained the reasons for the use of various animals. He then took me into a hut with a 'Ju Ju' man present, where they had various prepared fetishes; He explained a number of fetishes and I bought a lucky charm, which was blessed by the Ju Ju man (Voodoo priest).



I then returned to my hotel and booked out. I caught another moto, asking him to take me to the Gare Routiere for Aneho. After a while it became clear that he didn't know where he was going. So, I got him to stop and tried to explain with the help of a map. He still didn't know what he was doing. So, he stopped another motorcycle. In the end we had gained a crowd of people, but eventually that crowd included a bush taxi which picked me up and took me to my destination, which was Aneho.



Aneho, is a small sleepy town east of Lome. It was the colonial capital until 1920. It is on a beautiful blue lagoon. I was going to the Hotel de L'Oasis and Restaurant, which has great views of the lagoon, the fishermen and passing pirogues (traditional canoes). I got to the hotel at midday, took a shower and had a long lunch and siesta. The room cost 12300 CFAs for a room with air conditioning. I went for a walk around the town at about 4.30pm - it was still very hot. I returned to the hotel and chatted to the woman who owned the hotel, I think I was her only customer. I also had dinner at the hotel, the food was very good.

THURSDAY 31

I left the hotel at 10am. The woman who owned the hotel directed one of the staff to help me find a bush taxi to Benin. We hailed a bush taxi quickly and it was a short ride to the border. At the border I bought a Transit Visa for 10000 CFAs. I had a bit of a silent panic whilst I was going through the border as I realized I couldn't remember what my taxi looked like! Fortunately at the Benin side of the border the driver recognized me. The border is very busy and there are a lot of cars. I had to change the time on my watch as Benin is one hour ahead of Togo. The total journey time was 2 and a half hours to Cotonou including time spent sorting out the formalities at the border post, but because of the time difference it was 1.30pm when I booked into a hotel. I took full advantage of the facilities in the room which had air conditioning and satellite TV for 22000 CFAs. Later in the afternoon I found a very good Patiserie, which has been my favourite haunt since!

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Photos

Lome - Marche des Fetishiers
The Ju Ju man and his fetishes (magic charms)

Lome - ECOWAS
Bank of Developement

Central Lome
Life's a beach!

Central Lome
Near the Hotel IBIS

Marche des Fetishiers
Owls

Marche des Fetishiers
Camelions

Marche des Fetishiers
Crocodile heads

Marche des Fetishiers
Parrots

Aneho
View from the Terrace of the Hotel

Aneho
The Blue Lagoon

Aneho
View of Hotel

Aneho
Street scene