Gilbert Houngbo to be first African to head UN labour agency

Yahoo – AFP, Agnès PEDRERO, March 25, 2022 

Five candidates were in the running to succeed Britisch trade unionist Guy Ryder
as head of the ILO (AFP/Fabrice COFRRIN)

Gilbert Houngbo, the former prime minister of Togo, was on Friday elected the next head of the International Labour Organization, and will become the first African to lead the UN agency. 

After two rounds of voting, the ILO's governing body elected the 61-year-old to succeed British trade unionist Guy Ryder, who steps down at the end of September, after 10 years in the job. 

"You have made history," Houngbo told the governing body after the election. 

"I am deeply and absolutely honoured to be the first representative of the African region to be selected to lead the ILO after 103 years." 

Houngbo was chosen from among five candidates and had been seen in a strong position after the African Union threw its weight behind him. 

Currently head of the Rome-based International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), he also enjoyed strong backing on the labour side. 

His opponents in the race were former French labour minister Muriel Penicaud, South Korea's ex-foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha, South African entrepreneur Mthunzi Mdwaba, and ILO deputy Greg Vines of Australia. 

'Rich symbolism' 

Houngbo's win marks a dramatic shift for the ILO, which since its founding in 1919 has been led only by men from Europe or the Americas. 

The oldest specialised UN agency has 187 member states, which are, uniquely in the UN system, represented by governments, employers and workers. 

The organisation's governing body counts 56 members, with half of them representing governments, and a quarter each representing employers and workers. 

Friday's vote took place by secret ballot behind closed doors. 

The ILO said Houngbo received 30 votes in the second-round voting, securing the majority. Penicaud received 23, Kang two and Mdwaba one. 

After the first round, Vines was eliminated. 

Houngbo, who was born in rural Togo in what he has described as "extreme poverty", hailed the "rich symbolism" of his win. 

The vote outcome, he told the governing body Friday, "fulfils the aspirations of a young African, a young African boy whose humble upbringing turned into a lifelong quest for social justice." 

Former Togo prime minister Gilbert Hounge had strong backing (AFP/Tiziana FABI)

The married father-of-three has spent much of his career working with international organisations. 

He has previously held several high-level positions within the UN system, such as finance director at the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and deputy director-general of ILO itself, from 2013-2017. 

Houngbo will take the ILO helm on October 1 and will have his work cut out as the organisation strives to adapt its norms to a world of work rapidly transforming due to evolving technologies. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has only sped up those changes, leading to the rapid uptake of virtual technologies to enable remote working. 

'Unifier' 

"We must respond in a concrete manner to the socioeconomic consequences ... of Covid-19," he told AFP in an interview, pointing in particular to the impact on many people in the informal sector, with no safety net. 

"My ambition, my dream, is to run this organisation, which should lead on ensuring that every household... should have minimum social protection." 

While stressing the need to protect workers' rights, Houngbo, who has also worked in the private sector, including at Price Waterhouse, Canada, insisted that he as ILO chief would equally represent the interests of governments and employers. 

"I am at the middle," he told AFP. 

"I think that in a role like mine, the role of director-general, one must be a unifier. That is the challenge." 

With his win, the ILO will become the third large international organisation in Geneva to be headed by an African, after the World Health Organization elected its first African leader in 2017, as did the World Trade Organization last year. 

Houngbo stressed he was not coming in as the representative of a single region. 

"Although my origins are African, my perspective is global," he said. 

"In an age, unfortunately, of divisiveness, my commitment to be a unifying director general stands firm."

Togo ruling party triumphs at first local polls in 30 years

Yahoo – AFP, July 6, 2019

Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe has ruled the country for 15 years since taking
over from his father (AFP Photo/Michele Spatari)

Lome (AFP) - Togo's ruling party has cruised to victory at the first local elections in 32 years in the West African nation that has been dominated by one family for decades, results said.

Voters in the country of 8 million people cast their ballots on Sunday at a poll Western powers described as an "important step in strengthening local democracy".

Some opposition parties took part after boycotting parliamentary elections last year in protest at President Faure Gnassingbe's grip on power.

Gnassingbe has ruled the country for 15 years since he succeeded his father Eyadema Gnassingbe, who led the country with an iron first for 38 years after taking over in a coup.

Parliament in May approved a constitutional change allowing Gnassingbe to run two more times and potentially remain in office until 2030.

Preliminary results released late Friday by the electoral commission gave the ruling Union for the Republic 895 of the 1490 local council seats on offer.

The National Alliance for Change was second on 134 seats, ahead of two other opposition groupings.

Overall turnout was put at just over 52 percent but participation was low in the capital Lome. The vote was not held in three areas of the country due to "technical reasons".

The election came almost two years after hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in Lome and other cities in anti-government protests, leading to deadly clashes.

Protests again erupted earlier this year in Togo, sandwiched between Ghana and Benin, but have since waned.

Political activists have been detained by security forces and the police.

The previous councillors elected in local elections in Togo governed for 14 years from 1987 -- despite being elected on five-year terms.

Councillors were later replaced with "special delegations", tasked with organising new elections, whose positions were often filled with figures hand-picked by the government.

Germany pledges to speed return of colonial-era loot

Yahoo – AFP, March 14, 2019

Germany has agreed to speed up the return of human remains and artifacts from
its former African colonies. (AFP Photo/John MACDOUGALL)

Berlin (AFP) - Germany has agreed to speed up the return of human remains and artwork from former African colonies where the country carried out brutal massacres and pillaged indigenous heritage.

The German culture and foreign ministries as well as regional and local cultural authorities signed a pledge late Wednesday committing museums and scientific institutions to completing an inventory on their "ethnology, natural history, art and cultural history holdings" from the colonial era.

The aim is to determine which "were acquired in a way that legally or ethnically would no longer be acceptable today" and work toward their restitution.

"The priority in this work are the human remains dating from the colonial period" in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the signatories said.

The commitment comes after a study commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron in November 2018 recommended returning African treasures held by French museums -- a radical policy shift seen as putting pressure on other former colonial powers.

Germany is unique among the powers in having large holdings of African human remains at museums, universities and in private collections that were used in pseudo-scientific studies.

"Research" carried out by German professor Eugen Fischer on the skulls and bones resulted in theories later used by the Nazis to justify the murder of Jews.

Germany has on several occasions repatriated human remains to Namibia, where it slaughtered of tens of thousands of indigenous Herero and Nama people between 1904 and 1908.

The German government announced in 2016 that it planned to issue an official apology for the atrocities committed by German imperial troops.

But it has repeatedly refused to pay direct reparations, citing millions of euros in development aid given to the Namibian government.

Beyond German South West Africa (present-day Namibia), the German empire held colonies from Togoland (now Togo) and what was then Kamerun (Cameroon) in the west, across to the far slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanganyika (Tanzania) in the east, as well as Pacific islands.

Germany this year earmarked 1.9 million euros ($2.2 million) to research the provenance of holdings acquired by museums during the colonial period.

The project will be spearheaded by the German Lost Art Foundation, which also studies the provenance of art suspected of having been looted by the Nazis.

Huge protests in Togo for constitutional reform

Yahoo – AFP, Sophie BOUILLON, September 6, 2017

Protesters carry flags and placards while they march shouting slogans as they
call for reforms during an anti-government rally in Lome on September 6,
2017 (AFP Photo/PIUS UTOMI EKPEI)

Lome (AFP) - Hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters protested across Togo on Wednesday calling for constitutional reform, despite an apparent government concession to their demands.

Amnesty International country head Aime Adi told AFP "at least 100,000" were in the capital, Lome, with similar demonstrations taking place in some 10 other cities.

Opposition party leader Jean-Pierre Fabre for his part called the demonstration "unprecedented" and estimated that "more than one million people" were on the streets of Lome.

Neither figure was independently verified but AFP journalists on the ground said a tide of people had converged on the coastal capital, dwarfing previous protests.

Many brandished placards denouncing the regime of President Faure Gnassingbe, whose family has been in power for the last 50 years.

"The reforms are lies, we don't believe them. If the people's minds are made up, nothing can stop them, not even the army," said one protester, Armand Jarre, 26.

Gnassingbe chaired a cabinet meeting on Tuesday evening, which saw ministers approve plans for a bill about restrictions on terms in office and changes to the voting system.

The opposition has been calling for both since 2005, when Gnassingbe succeeded his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled for nearly 40 years.

Civil service minister Gilbert Bawara told AFP the government had taken note of the public's "strong expectation" and that a committee was looking into the proposals.

He invited opposition figures to enter into "dialogue and debate" on the issue.

But he said calls to limit the presidential mandate to a maximum two, five-year terms would not be implemented retroactively.

"There is no legislative reason to do so. But we need a consensus so the reform is accepted," he added.

A consensus would mean the approval of four-fifths of parliament, said Bawara.

Parliament only returns from its summer break in October and exact details of the proposals are vague.

Previous protests

Most of Togo's opposition parties decided to come together Lome and some 10 provincial cities on Wednesday, despite the government's apparent olive branch.

They are calling for an acceleration of constitutional reforms, including the limit on how many terms a president can serve and the introduction of a two-round voting system.

"Unir (Unite, the president's ruling party) calls for talks as soon as it is cornered," said Tikpi Atchadam, the head of the Panafrican National Party.

"I think the people have made up their mind because they're fed up," he added, calling on Gnassingbe to "leave by the front door".

"I don't believe in dialogue with the regime anymore," he said.

One man taking part in the protests said on condition of anonymity that after 50 years ruled by the same family, Togo's problems were "too deep".

Hundreds of people were killed in 2005 during violent protests following the death of Gnassingbe Eyadema and the succession of his 38-year-old son.

The president was re-elected in 2010 and 2015, although the opposition rejected the results.

Last month, at least two people were killed in anti-Gnassingbe protests in the city of Sokode, some 300 kilometres (185 miles) north of the capital.

On Tuesday, he appealed for "calm and restraint", adding that the deaths were regrettable.

Hundreds of thousands of people across Togo take to the streets to demand constitutional reformhttps://t.co/rsrWwTb0E3 pic.twitter.com/qvnouvBeTO

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 6, 2017

 

Togo arrests three over huge ivory haul

BBC News, 29 January 2014

The handcuffed suspects were paraded with the haul of tusks in Lome

Related Stories

• 'Ivory kingpin' arrested in Togo
• Thriving trade in illegal ivory
• Wildlife crime 'hurting nations'

Police in Togo have arrested three men after finding nearly two tons of ivory in a container destined for Vietnam.

Two of the suspects are from Togo and the other is Vietnamese.

Conservationists say the West African country is a transit point for illegal ivory between Central Africa and Asia.

Despite a global ban on the ivory trade nearly a quarter of a century ago, Africa's elephant population is heading towards extinction.

The numbers of forest elephants in central Africa have decreased by more than 60% over the past 10 years.

The three suspects were paraded by police before reporters along with the haul of ivory in the Togolese capital, Lome.

Lt Pierre Awi said 1,680kg (3,700lb) of ivory had been concealed in a container at the city's port bound for Vietnam.

"The container was loaded with wood that was serving as a cover for a large quantity of ivory in bags underneath," he said.

Conservationists say the seizure represents the tusks of about 230 elephants.

African countries are struggling to contain the illegal trade in ivory.

On Tuesday, a court in Kenya used tough new anti-poaching laws to fine a Chinese man $230,000 (£138,000) for smuggling ivory.

He was caught last week with 3.5kg of the contraband in a suitcase at Nairobi's international airport.

Last August Togo announced it had arrested a man believed to be the kingpin of the country's ivory trade.

Emile Edouwodzi N'bouke, who has denied any wrongdoing, has not yet been brought to trial.

Related Articles:

African and Asian states vow to crack down on illegal ivory trade

Chinese ivory smuggler gets record sentence after Kenya trial

Togo goes to the polls

Deutsche Welle, 25 July 2013

Togo voted on Thursday in parliamentary elections delayed by months of protests, with the opposition seeking to weaken the ruling family's decades-long grip on power.

"I expect nothing from these elections," said the Togolese blogger Fabbi Kouassi. "The electoral commission is controlled by the ruling party. This is not about vying for power under a democracy, this is a fake democracy," she said.

Fabbi Kouassi: frustrated by the
absence of political change

The present leader, Faure Gnassingbe, was installed as president by the military eight years ago on the death of his father Eyadema Gnassingbe, who had ruled the country since 1967.

Critics of the government expect that the ruling party, the Union for the Republic (UNIR), will win the elections. Like many people living in the big cities, Kouassi uses social media to express her frustration with prevailing conditions in the country. In her blog, the journalist criticizes Gnassingbe's regime and reports about corruption and the excessive use of force by the Togolese police.

Fabbi Kouassi received Deutsche Welle's BOBS (Best of Blogs) Reporters Without Borders award in May, giving her recognition for her work for press freedom.

 Ausschnitt:

President Faure Gnassingbe has ruled

Togo since 2005

Opposition too divided to be effective

Many Togolese are frustrated, but that isn't boosting support for the opposition parties, said Ralf Wittek. Based in neighboring Burkina Faso, he runs the local branch of the Hanns Seidel Foundation, which has links to Germany's conservative CSU party. The foundation promotes democracy and good governance in Togo. Wittek is a frequent visitor to the country.

Wittek said the political parties are far too divided amongst themselves to operate as an effective opposition at national level. "Even if the regime loses votes, they will still benefit from the opposition parties' disarray," he said. Only the Gnassingbe family had the resources and organization to "get their way" up and down the country.

Among the parties competing in the elections is the Union of Forces for Change (UFC). Three years ago, it joined Gnassingbe's unity government and now champions most of its policies. In protest, a splinter group left the UFC to found a new party, the Alliance for Change (AFC). The AFC is the only opposition party fielding candidates across the whole country. It also has a good reputation among the population.

Opposition leaders had threatened to boycott the vote after the government refused to implement sweeping electoral reforms, but ultimately decided to take part.

No Arab Spring in Togo

The international community complained of ballot rigging during the 2007 and 2010 elections. The European Union – among others – has been calling for constituency boundaries to be redrawn, because the present structure gives votes cast in Gnassingbe's strongholds a disproportionate influence over the final outcome.

Authorities were said to have shut down

 a radio station that had aired reports of

fraud on polling day

One party competing for the first time is New Engagement for Togo (NET). Supporters meet and communicate online, on social media like Facebook. The party's founder and leader Gerry Taama is a well-known blogger and former officer, but he has no chance of making any headway in Togolese politics. That at least is the view of Dirk Kohnert, expert on West Africa at Germany's GIGA institute. "The party has been puffed up by western media and the odd diplomat, because they hope that the Arab Spring and social media will start to have an impact on sub-Saharan Africa, but it is not going to happen in Togo," he said.

Polling had been delayed by waves of 

protests amid concern about electoral

malpractice

Economic woes

The international community hopes that the violence which marred the 2005 poll will not be repeated. The UN estimates that it claimed the lives of between 400 and 500 people. Dirk Kohnert does not expect any disturbances this time. "I think the vast majority of the population are fed up with party political bickering. People in Togo are interested solely in economic growth, in finding a way out of poverty," he said. Togo is one of the poorest countries in the world. The African Development Bank says every third young person is out of work and two thirds of the country's youth - according to the latest UN development report - can neither read nor write. Most of the population live in rural areas and their frustration is growing.

Fighting poverty is on the agenda of the ruling UNIR party, but its efforts are dependent on development aid and on the global economy picking up. 60 percent of Togo's budget comes from foreign aid and loans. Over the next three years, Togo will receive 27 million euros ($36 million) in aid from Germany. Kouassi finds it frustrating that the international community does not bring more pressure to bear on Togo to introduce democratic reforms. But she refuses to give up. "I want to be able to look our children in the eye and say we fought for something worth fighting for," she said.

Malaysia seizes 1,500 elephant tusks headed for China

The haul, discovered in shipping containers, was equal in weight to all the illegally traded ivory seized globally last year

guardian.co.uk, Adam Vaughan, Wednesday 12 December 2012

Malaysian customs officers display elephant tusks that were recently seized
in Port Klang, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photograph: AP

Malaysian authorities have seized an enormous haul of 1,500 elephant tusks worth RM60m (£12m), weighing as much as all the illegally traded ivory seized globally last year and marking the country's largest ever haul.

The shipment was estimated at between 20 and 24 tonnes, and discovered in two shipping containers by the customs department on Monday at busy container terminal Port Klang, near Kuala Lampur. It was en route from Togo in west Africa to China, and had been transferred from one ship to another in Spain.

"The two containers were found to be filled with sawn timber. Inside the wood there were secret compartments that were filled with elephant tusks," said state customs director Azis Yaacub. It is the fourth such seizure in Malaysia this year.

It follows large seizures of ivory globally this year, such as 0.9 tonnes in New York in July, 1.5 tonnes in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in May, and two in Hong Kong this autumn – one of which broke records – totalling 5.1 tonnes. 2011 itself was a record year globally for ivory seizures, totalling 24 tonnes.

Will Travers, chief executive of the Born Free Foundation, said: "I thought that when the international ivory trade ban was agreed in 1989, we would see a permanent reversal of fortunes for this beleaguered species. How wrong I was – the respite was temporary. Experts estimate that between 20,000 and 30,000 elephants are being illegally killed each year to fuel demand, largely driven by China. No part of Africa is now safe. Across the continent, for the first time, the number of carcasses recorded as a result of poaching exceeds the number reportedly dying from natural causes."

The elephant researcher Iain Douglas-Hamilton told the New York Times: "It's extremely depressing. The price of ivory is making this situation insane."

The latest find comes as WWF published a major report on the international illegalwildlife trade on Wednesday, saying it was now of such scale it was undermining national security in some countries. Carter Roberts, the president of WWF, said in an interview that efforts to tackle the trade were "outgunned in terms of resources, and it is being outgunned, worst of all, in terms of organisation".

Related Articles:

In pictures: Wildlife crime

S.Africa, Vietnam agree to curb rhino horn trade

Togo women call sex strike against President Gnassingbe

BBC News, 27 August 2012

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• Profile: Faure Gnassingbe
• Togo leader's brother convicted
• In pictures:Togo unrest

Isabelle Ameganvi said holding the strike
 would ensure women's voices would
be heard

Women in Togo have called a week-long sex strike, starting on Monday, to demand the president's resignation.

The ban has been called by opposition coalition Let's Save Togo, which groups together nine civil society groups and seven opposition parties and movements.

Opposition leader Isabelle Ameganvi said that sex could be a "weapon of the battle" to achieve political change.

The coalition wants President Faure Gnassingbe, whose family has held power for decades, to stand down.

"We have many means to oblige men to understand what women want in Togo," Ms Ameganvi, leader of the women's wing of the coalition, told the BBC.

She said she had been inspired by a similar strike by Liberian women in 2003, who used a sex strike to campaign for peace.

"If men refuse to hear our cries we will hold another demonstration that will be more powerful than a sex strike," she added.

'Like fasting'

Togo has been run by the same family for more than four decades.

President Faure Gnassingbe took power in 2005 following the death of his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled Togo for 38 years. The president was re-elected in 2010.

The strike was announced at a rally on Saturday in Lome, attended by thousands of people. 

The rally was held to protest against recent electoral reforms, which demonstrators say will make it easier for Mr Gnassingbe's party to win re-election in the parliamentary polls set for October.

Activists say that the strike will motivate men who are not involved in the political movement to pursue its goals, which include an end to the system allowing unlimited presidential terms.

Earlier this month, two anti-Gnassingbe protests were dispersed by police using tear gas and more than 100 people were arrested.

The sex strike was welcomed as a political tool by some women in Lome.

"It's a good thing for us women to observe this sex strike as long as our children are in jail now. I believe that by observing this, we will get them released," Abla Tamekloe told the Associated Press.

"For me, it's like fasting, and unless you fast, you will not get what you want from God."

Togo protest: Lome rocked by electoral reform unrest

BBC News, 14 June 2012

Tens of thousands of people have taken part in a violent protests in Lome

Related Stories 

• Profile: Faure Gnassingbe
• Togo leader's brother convicted
• Inpictures: Togo unrest

Angry crowds are demostrating in the capital of Togo in a third day of protests against electoral reforms they say favour the ruling party.

Two previous days of unrest in Lome saw violent clashes between security forces and thousands of demonstrators during which stones were thrown, tear gas was fired and about 30 people were injured.

It follows recent electoral reforms ahead of a poll this year.

Protesters want an end to the system allowing unlimited presidential terms.

Togo has been run by the same family for more than four decades.

President Faure Gnassingbe took power in 2005 following the death of his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled Togo for 38 years. He was re-elected in 2010.

Buildings vandalised

The BBC's Ebow Godwin in the capital, Lome, says tens of thousands of people have taken part in the protests.

He says the unrest forced the closure of the city's main market, popularly known as Assigame, and other leading shops, paralysing commercial activities.

Anti-riot police fired tear gas at protesters who threw stones, vandalised buildings and set tyres on fire along the capital's streets.

At least 10 policemen and 17 protesters are thought to have been injured in the previous two days of protest.

At one stage on Wednesday evening, paramilitary police pursued several opposition protesters into a Catholic Church where they had sought refuge, our reporter says. 

The protesters want a reversal of amendments to Togo's electoral code adopted by the country's parliament last week, which include parliamentary and constituency reforms.

They say the changes favour the ruling party.

Operation Save Togo, a coalition of campaign groups which organised the protests, said it would continue with the demonstrations until President Gnassingbe agrees to hold a dialogue over the reforms.

Demonstrators want a return to the Togo 1992 constitution which limits the mandate of a sitting head of state to two terms.

The constitution was amended in 2002 by parliament which was dominated by the ruling party.

Alphonse Kpogo, one of the Operation Save Togo leaders, told the BBC: "What puts more oil into the blazing fire is the adoption, unilaterally, of the new electoral code. The movement Save Togo says we cannot just adopt unilaterally new laws like that.

"There must be a consensus over the adoption of these laws. Either they accept to hold dialogue to get consensus before going to the elections or we will chase them out of power through a revolution."

The Togolese government, which has appealed for protesters to be law abiding, says the electoral reforms were the result of extensive dialogue with civil society.

Legislative polls are expected to be held in October, however a precise date has not been set.

Central African Republic starts presidential, legislative elections

English.news.cn 2011-01-23

Supporters of incumbent President Francois Bozize attend a rally in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, Jan. 21, 2011. The presidential and legislative elections in the Central African Republic started to vote early morning on Jan. 23. (Xinhua/Claude Bernad Wongoue)

BANGUI, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Central African Republic started the presidential and legislative elections on Sunday.

The polling stations opened at 6 a.m. local time amid tightened security with the deployment of soldiers and police in the capital Bangui, where concentrate 1 million people of the country's total population of 4.5 million.

There are 1,200 international observers to monitor the election process.

The presidential election involves incumbent President Francois Bozize, ex-president Ange-Felix Patasse who is an independent candidate, ex-prime minister Martin Ziguele of the Movement for the Liberation of Central African People (MLPC), ex-head of rebels Jean Jacques Demafouth of the People's Army for the Restoration of Democracy (APRD) and Gros Raymond Nakombo of the New Progressive Alliance (ANP).

Ange-Felix Patasse, ex-president of the Central
African Republic, is interviewed by Xinhua in
Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic,
Jan. 22, 2011. The presidential and legislative
elections in the Central African Republic
started to vote early morning on Jan. 23.
(Xinhua/Claude Bernad Wongoue)

A total of 868 politicians are running for the 105 seats in the National Assembly (parliament).

According to the presidential decree issued last week, there are 4,370 polling stations across the country and 1.8 million eligible voters registered to cast ballots.

Out of the five presidential candidates, Bozize, Patasse and Ziguele are as the main contenders in the race. The three men all came from the densely populated north.

There is already an early euphoria at the camp of Bozize, who has ruled the country for the past five years and is credited for the national dialogue leading to the current elections.

His supporters hold confidence in his re-election.

"There are five candidates. There are three heavyweights: the outgoing president, Patasse and Ziguele. But the president candidate will win in the first round with more than 60 percent. He has restored peace. The economy has even taken a stride. Instead of the 172nd, the country is now the 159th in the index of the human development," said Mathieu Ganinga, an accountant in Bangui.

At the helm of the country since March 2003 following a coup, Bozize was elected in May 2005 for a term which ended on June 11, 2010 but had to extend his mandate after approval by the National Assembly.

At that time, he was only facing one candidate, Patasse, whom he overthrew from power.

Patasse who had gone into self-exile in Togo, returned to the Central African Republic in December 2008 after an inclusive political dialogue brokered by Gabon. The dialogue was widely hailed as the key to a transitional government in the run-up to the elections to end years of instability.

The Central African Republic is a landlocked country, bordering Chad in the north, Sudan in the east, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo in the south and Cameroon in the west.

The country has witnessed a series of coups and revolts since its independence from France in 1960. Despite its rich resources of timber, gold, diamond and uranium, the country remains one of the poorest in the world as a result of instability.