LOME, Togo (AP) — Togo's president has signed a new constitution eliminating presidential elections, his office said late Monday, a move that opponents say will allow him to extend his family's six-decade rule. Civil society groups in the West African nation have called for protests.
Parliament will now choose the president. The new constitution comes days after the election commission on Saturday announced that President Faure Gnassingbe's ruling party had won a majority of parliament seats.
There was a crackdown on civic and media freedoms ahead of the vote. The government banned protests against the proposed new constitution and arrested opposition figures. The electoral commission banned the Catholic Church from deploying election observers. Togo’s media regulator suspended the accreditation process for foreign journalists.
The new constitution also increases presidential terms from five to six years and introduces a single-term limit. But the nearly 20 years that Gnassingbe has served in office would not count, and the political opposition, religious leaders and civil society say it's likely that Gnassingbe will stay in power when his mandate expires in 2025.
Togo has been ruled by the same family for 57 years, first by Eyadema Gnassingbe and then by his son. Faure Gnassingbe took office after elections that the opposition described as a sham.
The new constitution also creates a figure similar to a prime minister, to be selected by the ruling party. Critics fear that could become another way for Gnassingbe to extend his grip on power.
A group of about 20 civil society organizations in Togo have called for protests to reinstate the previous constitution.
“We will never accept this new constitution, even after its promulgation,” David Dosseh, a spokesperson for the civil society groups, told The Associated Press, calling the 2025 election "absolutely necessary for the people to choose a new president and finally achieve a democratic transition in Togo.”
FILE - Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe waves before a working lunch at the Elysee Palace in Paris on April 9, 2021. Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe has signed a controversial new constitution that eliminates presidential elections, a statement from his office said late Monday, April 6, 2024. It's a move that opponents say will allow him to extend his family's six-decade-long rule. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, File)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — At least 10 people were reported killed in attacks in Ukraine’s war-ravaged northeast on Sunday as Russia pushed ahead with its renewed offensive.
In the Kharkiv region, the focus of the offensive, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said five people were killed and 16 wounded in a Russian strike on the outskirts of the regional capital, also called Kharkiv.
He added that five more people were killed and nine wounded in an attack on the region’s Kupiansk district, southeast of the regional capital.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Sunday that its forces in the area were “continuing to advance into the depths of the enemy’s defense.” Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia had stepped up its attacks around Kharkiv and that the situation was “dynamic.”
Russia launched an offensive in the Kharkiv region late last week, significantly adding to the pressure on Ukraine’s outnumbered and outgunned forces which are waiting for delayed deliveries of crucial weapons and ammunition from Western partners. Ukraine’s overstretched forces are trying to slow Russia on the new front by using bomb-laden drones to destroy military vehicles.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday during a visit to China that Moscow’s offensive in the Kharkiv region aims to create a buffer zone but that there are no plans to capture the city.
Meanwhile, Ukraine and Russia continued to exchange drone attacks.
Ukrainian air force officials said Sunday morning that air defenses shot down all 37 Russian drones launched against the country overnight.
In Russia, Russian air defenses shot down 57 Ukrainian drones over the southern Krasnodar region overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Local military officials said drone debris hit an oil refinery in the town of Slavyansk-on-Kuban, but there was no fire or damage. News outlet Astra published videos appearing to show an explosion at the refinery as it was hit by a drone. The videos could not be independently verified.
Nine long-range ballistic missiles and a drone were destroyed over the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula, following Friday morning’s massive Ukrainian drone attack that cut off power in the city of Sevastopol.
A further three drones were shot down over the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine. According to regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov, a church roof was set on fire by falling drone debris, but there were no casualties.
The Russian-installed governor of Ukraine’s partially occupied Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, said that one person died and 16 were wounded when a Ukrainian drone hit a minibus on Sunday morning.
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Morton reported from London.
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Follow AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Kurenkov and Natural Resources Minister Alexander Kozlov during their meeting at the Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Ukrainian police officers look for fragments of a glide bomb in front of damaged house after a Russian airstrike on a residential neighbourhood in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A Ukrainian police officer and war crime prosecutor inspect fragments of a glide bomb in front of damaged house, after a Russian airstrike on a residential neighbourhood in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
