December 9, 2003
Posted to the web December 9, 2003
Ebow Godwin
Lomé
Besieged President Eyadéma, hamstrung by a 10-year economic sanction imposed on his country by the EU, on Sunday decided to go to "Mohammed" if the latter would not go to the mountain.
After several failed attempts at democratic and human rights reforms aimed at the appeasement of the gods of the European Union, the Togolese Head of State emplaned once again for Milan in Italy on Sunday for a visit whose real mission was not transparently disclosed.
But sources said part of the Togolese leader's mission is to try to break the jinx of sanctions which have held the economic jugular of Togo for the past decade, resulting in an estimated 600 billion CFA francs loss in terms of bilateral aid, leading to serious dislocations in the ailing Togolese economy.
The European Union slapped a ban on Togo in 1993 "until the country's uncertain but sometimes disruptive move towards multi-party democracy is brought back on track by President Eyadéma."
As a result, President Eyadéma has been making efforts to dialogue with the Togo opposition in order to achieve internal peace, to no avail.
But other sources said President Eyadéma was trying to kill two birds with one stone.
These sources believe the Togolese Head of State might undergo a medical check-up in a private clinic in Milan, Italy, where he received medical care in a private clinic in August for an alleged throat infection.
President Eyadéma who was received by a representative of Italian President Silvio Berlusconi, is expected to hold "critical" talks with the European Union in Rome within a few days.
Italy currently holds the Presidency of the European Union, which has of late exerted pressure on President Eyadéma to rapidly negotiate a form of political compromise with the Togolese traditional opposition groups.
As a result, local, municipal and senate elections slated for the December 14, this year, boycotted by the traditional opposition, were discreetly postponed sine die by the Independent Electoral Commission last week.
During the talks in Rome, President Eyadéma is expected to seek either "a complete or partial resumption of EU economic bilateral co-operation with Togo", presidential staffers said.
In August this year, when the President paid his first private visit to Italy, his trip was not announced.
It was therefore shrouded in secrecy leading to a political furor, fraught with speculations that he was gravely ill and hospitalised in a clinic in Milan.
But on Sunday, President Eyadéma made sure that this time around, his second visit to Italy was publicly announced.
He inspected a military guard of honour and was seen off by Prime Minister Koffi Sama and Fanbare Ouattara Natchaba, Speaker of Parliament, members of the government, members of the country's Parliament, and the military hierarchy.
But the communique issued by the Interior Minister, Squadron Akila Esso Boko did not disclose the real nature of his visit to Italy, nor how long he was expected to stay there.
This has fueled a new round of speculations that President Eyadéma was in Italy for medical treatment, using the impending discussions.
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