LOME, Togo — The female wing of a civil rights group is urging women in Togo to stage a weeklong sex strike to demand the resignation of the country’s president.
Women are being asked to start withholding sex from their husbands or partners as of Monday, said Isabelle Ameganvi, leader of the women’s wing of the group Let’s Save Togo. She said the strike will put pressure on Togo’s men to take action against President Faure Gnassingbe.
Believe it or not, it might actually work!
Ameganvi, a lawyer, said her group is following the example of Liberia’s women, who used a sex strike in 2003 to campaign for peace.‘‘We have many means to oblige men to understand what women want in Togo,’’ Ameganvi said.
The sex strike was announced at a rally Saturday of several thousand in the capital city, Lome. The demonstration was organized by a coalition that is protesting recent electoral reforms that they say will make it easier for Gnassingbe to win reelection in October.
Gnassingbe came to power in 2005, after the death of his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled the West African country for 38 years.
Gnassingbe has not commented on the sex strike, nor has his wife.
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Women are being asked to start withholding sex from their husbands or partners as of Monday, said Isabelle Ameganvi, leader of the women’s wing of the group Let’s Save Togo. She said the strike will put pressure on Togo’s men to take action against President Faure Gnassingbe.
Believe it or not, it might actually work!
Ameganvi, a lawyer, said her group is following the example of Liberia’s women, who used a sex strike in 2003 to campaign for peace.‘‘We have many means to oblige men to understand what women want in Togo,’’ Ameganvi said.
The sex strike was announced at a rally Saturday of several thousand in the capital city, Lome. The demonstration was organized by a coalition that is protesting recent electoral reforms that they say will make it easier for Gnassingbe to win reelection in October.
Gnassingbe came to power in 2005, after the death of his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled the West African country for 38 years.
Gnassingbe has not commented on the sex strike, nor has his wife.
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"Pirates kidnap 24 in gunfight off Togo coast" by JON GAMBRELL | Associated Press, August 29, 2012
LAGOS, Nigeria — Pirates attacked an oil tanker Tuesday off the coast of Togo, taking control of its bridge and kidnapping 24 Russian sailors before escaping amid an exchange of gunfire with a naval patrol boat, officials said.
It was not immediately clear whether anyone was injured in the attack on the Greek-owned oil tanker, which had been anchored about 119 miles away from Lome, Togo’s capital. The pirates took control of the vessel quickly, though an alarm from the ship alerted the Togolese navy, said Noel Choong, an official with the International Maritime Bureau.
The navy boat trailed the tanker and sailors exchanged gunfire with the pirates before the tanker fled, Choong said.
The Togolese security minister, Colonel Damehame Yark, and Togo’s chief of defense staff, General Mohammed Titikpina, confirmed the attack but offered few other details. The attack comes as Togo is hosting US officials in Lome for an antipiracy conference.
Translation: This was a STAGED EVENT!
Tuesday’s attack is just the latest to target West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea, which follows the continent’s southward curve from Liberia to Gabon. Over the last year, piracy there has escalated from low-level armed robberies to hijackings and cargo thefts.
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Also see: Around Africa: Togo Stick
Not very many bounces from my Boston Globe.
