Nathaniel Olympio calls on the Togolese population to remain mobilized, determined and combative. He also returned to his trip to Dakar (Senegal) last weekend as a representative of the Coalition of 14, to take part in a demonstration of Togolese living in the Senegalese capital, a march that was aborted.
The mobilization continues, but today we have the impression that it has weakened a little
Every time we protest, I hear someone say that the demonstration is weakening. We heard that on September 7th. Since that day, we are told that the mobilization is weakening. But you all found that five months later, the Togolese population is still standing, still engaged in the fight, still determined. That's right, today is the first day of the protests, we have found that it's always going increasing. So we are not always in the same arrangements, but what is important to note is that the Togolese are very dissatisfied with the head of state when he spoke recently in a pan-African newspaper where he showed that all that the Togolese do as a demonstration does not tell him anything and that his concern is to remain in power until 2020 and beyond.
Do you know, the Togolese have understood that only mobilization, only determination and only commitment can allow us to have democracy, can allow us to have freedom and that is why the Togolese do not relax ? The intimidation, the violence, the threats, all this does not weaken the Togolese and I think we are on the right track. You have to be confident, you have to be determined and we will end up getting what we have been looking for for so long. Nothing can withstand the people, absolutely nothing and this regime will eventually understand that after fifty years of exercise of power, it is time to give way to other Togolese. That's why Togolese are still in the street today.
You have come back from a trip to Senegal. What has happened concretely in the Senegalese capital?
In Dakar, Togolese from the diaspora have already demonstrated there. Last Saturday, they wanted to demonstrate again. It is true that the coalition sent a person to represent it. Finally, the Senegalese authorities considered that this event represented a risk or a disorder to the public order with risks of infiltration of malicious people in the mobilization, among the demonstrators, so they considered it useful to postpone this demonstration. I think we must respect the laws of the host country, that's what happened, but I can tell you that Senegalese youth is very much in solidarity with what is happening here in Togo and young Togolese see what happens in other countries like Senegal. That's why we understand the determination of youth,
I am convinced that the struggle of the Togolese people is being watched by all the youth of Africa, and we are somewhere a bulwark for all these heads of state who want to drag on to power. It is for this reason that we have the right not to go to the end of what we started.
The protesters do not want to go to the beach anymore. Will you access their request?
We respect what activists say and we are always on the routes we discussed with the authorities. So if the protesters do not want to go somewhere, they also have the freedom to stay where they want on the route. As long as we do not go out of the way, we respect our commitments.
Since the summit of ECOWAS, it seems that the international community has withdrawn ...
What makes you think that? The information we have confirmed that the mediators are still active. The Ghanaian President with whom we are still in touch is following the business and preparing for the next, so I can assure you that international mediation, that of ECOWAS is still very active. Let us not forget that at the summit of the ECOWAS in Abuja, the heads of state and government decided to ask Burkina Faso and Benin to join forces with the Ghanaian president to lead the mediation together. So she is even more dynamic than before.
Some people think that things are not moving, despite the demonstrations of the coalition. What do you think ?
The struggle is long, painful. We must be combative and we are combative, the Togolese people are combative, we will find an end to this crisis. We believe in it.
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