Source : Sahel weather September 2024 

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The attack on Senegalese activist Guy Marius Sagna in Togo has provoked an avalanche of reactions from West African civil society. An activist and member of parliament in Senegal (of the recently dissolved Senegalese parliament) and of the ECOWAS parliament, his trip was part of the third extraordinary session of the regional parliament's Commission, before responding to an invitation from Togo's political opposition. Following the attack on a Senegalese national, a member of the parliament of the Community of West African States, the Senegalese Ministry of African Integration and Foreign Affairs issued a press release expressing its “dismay and demanding an immediate investigation into this unspeakable act ”. It has to be said that opinion in Senegal has remained divided over the actions of MP Sagna, who is considered by some to be more of a “provocative” activist than a parliamentarian in some of his actions. Before Senegal, the Beninese courts had also ruled on the case of the activist who was kidnapped and held captive before being handed over to the Togolese police authorities.

For some human rights activists, the attack on the Senegalese political activist in Togo calls into question the state of democracy and political freedoms in the country, at a time when the regime is hardening and putting pressure on the opposition. The public meeting was organized by the Dynamique pour la Majorité du Peuple (DMP), an opposition platform. The Togolese opposition is at loggerheads with the government over the political reforms being undertaken to establish the Fifth Republic. While the Council of Ministers has adopted a draft ordinance amending the Electoral Code in the context of the adoption of the new Constitution, the opposition is denouncing a lack of dialogue, even though the government claims to have relied on discussions within the Cadre Permanent de Concertation (CPC) to introduce the amendment to the electoral law. Togo's political class remains very fractured on the issues of constitutional and institutional reform, making for a sensitive political context.