On September 29th, while engaging with Togolese citizens during a meeting organised in Lomé by the Dynamic for the Majority of the People (DMP), Senegalese member of the ECOWAS Parliament, Guy Marius Sagna, was violently assaulted and injured by unidentified thugs. He was subsequently carried to a nearby clinic for treatment. Several other injured are reported, including MP Brigitte Adjamagbo-Johnson, coordinator of the DMP, and a journalist from a local radio station.

AfricTivistes condemns this violent attack against a member of the ECOWAS parliament and calls upon the Togolese authorities to shed light on this incident. As an elected representative within a regional community body, Mr Sagna has the right to engage with citizens of ECOWAS member countries.

It is worth noting that Mr Sagna has repeatedly spoken out against violations of fundamental freedoms happening in Togo. This denunciation has led to threats from his Togolese colleague in the ECOWAS Parliament, Soklingbe Senou. The latter subsequently launched a petition to have Mr Sagna removed from the list of Senegalese MPs in the ECOWAS Parliament.

This assault is a blatant violation of the Constitution of Togo, which in Article 13 states, “The State has the obligation to guarantee the physical and mental integrity, life, and security of every person living on national territory.” At the continental level, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights stipulates in its Article 11 that “Every person has the right to freely assemble with others. This right is exercised only subject to the necessary restrictions prescribed by law and regulation, notably in the interest of national security, the safety of others, health, morality, or the rights and freedoms of others.”

We consider this violent attack to be an obstruction of the ECOWAS Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons of 1979. Togo, as an ECOWAS member, has a duty to respect and promote the democratic values common to the sub-regional space.

AfricTivistes, as an organisation promoting democracy, freedoms, and rights, calls on the Togolese authorities to take all necessary measures to protect fundamental freedoms, including the rights to assembly, demonstration, and expression…

Beyond this specific case, the situation in Togo raises our deepest concerns. We observe an alarming deterioration in the political climate and an increasing restriction of civic space. 

AfricTivistes remains in solidarity with the Togolese people and their aspirations for democratic governance for the development of their nation.