What's behind the US's antagonism against South Africa?
South Africa has rejected a recent report by the United States on its human rights record. It's not the first time the country finds itself in the firing line of the US. What's behind it?
In May, President Faure Gnassingbe of Togo stepped down from his post. Since then, Jean-Lucien Savi de Tove has been president. But Gnassingbe has not relinquished power. Instead, he is now president of the Council of Ministers, a new body created following a constitutional amendment. Most of Gnassingbe's previous presidential powers have been transferred to his new position, leaving President de Tove serving as a ceremonial head of state.
The opposition and civil rights activists call it a "constitutional coup"—because Gnassingbe's new position is not elected, but appointed by the strongest faction in parliament. Gnassingbe's UNIR party (Union for the Republic) has a comfortable majority there. There are no term limits, and Gnassingbe could rule indefinitely without ever having to stand for direct election again.
Gnassingbe's family dynasty
"That is really the biggest problem because the recent riot that happened in the country was not just about the arrest of the people, it was simply because people are fed up with this family which is controlling the country for more than 50 years now," Pape Ibrahima Kane, director of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) in Dakar, told DW.
He said the Gnassingbe family wields control over all aspects of Togo's governance structures, including the parliament.
The Togolese government has disregarded the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, Kane added. The Charter, signed off by the African Union (AU) in 2007, came into effect in 2012. The document says member states should aim, through regular, free and fair elections, to legitimize representative government and democratic transfers of power.
However, the charter has so far had no impact on the balance of power in Togo, where the Gnassingbe family has ruled the country for 58 years. Faure Gnassingbe took power in 2005 from his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who had ruled for almost four decades. With his latest move, he has further consolidated power.
"This is undoubtedly a terrible development for the Togolese people," Fredson Guilenge of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in Johannesburg, told DW.
Tricking the electorate?
Observers fear Gnassingbe might just be the first African leader to use a constitutional amendment to cement their power without having to answer the electorate. "That fact that it will inspire other leaders to change the constitution in order to maintain themselves in power is a worrying truth," Togolese human rights lawyer Esso-Dong Divin Aymard Kongah said.
"This is a worrying trend regarding democracy, human rights, and civic space, because all this is leading to a shrinking civic space where people are having less and less power to influence the way public affairs are being done," he told DW.
Gnassingbe's political move is nothing new. Several other African leaders have sought to change the constitution to remain in power.
President Faustin-Archange Touadera had the constitution amended so he could run for a third term in the Central African Republic's late 2025 election. In January 2026, Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, 80, will seek to be re-elected for the seventh term, after he pushed for the removal of age limits for presidential candidates in 2017. Cameroon's 92-year-old President Paul Biya is aiming for an eighth term, at the end of which he would be 99 years old.
