Amnesty International has called for an urgent and independent investigation into reports that Togolese security forces committed serious human rights abuses—including killings, torture, and abductions—during a recent crackdown on anti-government protests.
Togo, ruled for nearly six decades by President Faure Gnassingbé and his late father, has seen a rare wave of public unrest in the capital, Lomé.
The demonstrations, which began last month, were sparked by surging electricity prices, the arrest of political opponents, and a controversial constitutional change that critics say tightens Gnassingbé’s grip on power.
Civil society groups report that at least seven people have been killed, dozens injured, and over 60 individuals detained in connection with the protests.
Amnesty International said it had spoken to victims and eyewitnesses who detailed a series of abuses committed by security forces during demonstrations that had been officially banned.
According to witnesses, “men identified as security forces carried out unlawful killings, arbitrary arrests and detentions, acts of torture and other ill-treatment, and several cases of abduction,” said Marceau Sivieude, Amnesty’s acting regional director for West and Central Africa. “These cases must be independently and transparently investigated as a matter of urgency.”
The rights group noted that at least six individuals remained unaccounted for following the unrest. Amnesty also raised alarm over the alleged mistreatment of demonstrators during an earlier wave of protests in early June that focused on opposition to President Gnassingbé, who has ruled since 2005.
Authorities claimed on Sunday that the two bodies discovered in a lagoon after the demonstrations were cases of drowning.
A lawyer representing victims, Darius Atsoo, told Amnesty that the total number of people detained remained unclear. As of Monday, at least 31 individuals were still believed to be in custody.
