Thanks to all the effords during the struggle of the 'International campaign against dictatorship in Togo and other African countries' after the recent meeting of officials with "experts" who all clearly condemned any deportation to this dictatorship the government of the German state of Mecklenburg Vorpommern was forced to stop deportations to Togo for 6 months!
But this does not mean, there was time to relax. All other sttes continue their deportation practice. We have to continue the struggle for deportation stop in the whole country.
Please sign the petition to the German parliament to stop the deportations!
The petition in German for download:
English for download
New: declaration by St. Pauli 7. Herren concerning Alassane Moussabou: We demand the return of Alassane Mousbaou!
...
The "International Campaign against dictatorship in Togo and other
African countries" has invited the Vice-President of the Togolese Human Rights League (LTDH), Siméon Clumson-Eklu. He will arrive in Germany on the
15th of February. Together with activist of the campaign he will go on a speaking tour: Mobilisation Flyer fr,de and Tour Dates
pressrelease - Mecklenburg-Vorpommern temporarily stops deportations
Solidarity from the Asian Pacific Migrant Workers
Call for protest in Berlin 06.02.2006 - TogoCampaign
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dpa report February 7, 2006
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern stops deportations to Togo
Schwerin (dpa) – Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s ministry of interior has decided to stop deportations for the time being. The officials announced on Tuesday that they would wait for the Foreign Office’s new report on the state in Togo.
One of the reasons of this was the deportation of Alassane Mousbaou. His lawyer Daniela Noetzel reported that, after his arrival in the West African state a week ago, military officials have threatened him with “elimination”. Since then, Noetzel says, Mousbaou has been hiding.
Noetzel expressed her hope that Mousbaou’s action for acceptance of political asylum will soon be heard at the Administrative Court in Schwerin. This would give him the chance to return to Germany.
A speaker of the ministry of interior said that the responsible officials in Germany do not take it easy with deportations. According to the ministry’s statistics, 853 people from Togo were living in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on January 31, 2005. 323 of them are supposed to leave Germany.
dpa vo yymv ks
071729 Feb 06
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International Campaign against the Dictatorship in Togo and other African
Countries
Only moments after Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s decision to temporarily stop deportations to Togo because of public pressure, we hear that Togolese refugee Tchanile Houdou from Potsdam (Brandenburg) has been arrested for deportation.
Yesterday, February 6, 2006, he has still taken part in a demonstration in front of the Togolese embassy and the Foreign Office in Berlin.
We call for his immediate release from arrest and for a nationwide stop of deportations to Togo.
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Protest letter for download english
call for donations_Togo Campaign_download
Violent kidnapping of Alassane Moussbaou took place in early mornung of January 31st. We demand the immediate stop of deportation to Togo and other dictatorial regimes!
We demand the release from prison of Mister Adzrakou Komi Anani! His safety has to be guaranteed! Since more than two weeks his is on hunger strike he has to be released from the prison immediatly!
We demand the safe retrun of Mister Alassane Moussbaou! If he ia able to get out of the airport after being checked by the security forces he has to flee in exile again.
Come to the demonstration in Berlin on 6th of February!
To protest against his deportation we are calling for a demonstration at the
ministry of interior in Schwerin on thursday, 2nd of february 2006. Meeting place: 12 o clock railway station.
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solidarity from migrante europe
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letter from Adzrakou Komi Anani
expedituer
Mr. Adzrakou K. Anani
JVA Bützow
Kühlungsborner Str. 29 a
18246 Bützow
le 26-01-06
Hello Mrs. Heike,
The occasion allows me to write a small note to you to greet you and
wish you a good health and with all the family.
Mrs. Heike, Mr. Moussbaou and I thank you much for your supports, that
you had to support us. We want you to know that with your word suits us
makes forget our sorrows that we are in prison of Bützow. If one can
give us the chance to speak about what arrived to us at the level of our
request for asil at the level of our Behördes, in Landkreis (Prefecture)
and in Heims It is impossible. Mrs. Heike if justice could give you the
chance of even see in our files the declarations in the presses and on
the Internets with our photograph with then, the political activities of
the country to Germany and today the Behördes catch us as if we are
criminals to make us thrown into prisons. since your supports we know
that one will be freed one day (FREEDOM in Togo). Our thanks to you.
Your Adzrakou K Anani
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press release hungerstrike and solitary confinement 25.01.2006
- Hunger strike of Togolese dissidents at the JVA Bützow continues
- Hearing at the Administrative Court in Schwerin (Tuesday, January 24, 2006, 8.30 am)
- UNHCR underlines its position against deportation
- Member of Parliament Ulla Jelbke (Linkspartei) supports protest
Press release Hamburg, January 23, 2006:
The Togolese dissidents Alassane Moussabou and Adrzakou Komi Anani are keeping up their hunger strike at the JVA Bützow. Mister Moussabou informed us that he and Mister Adzrakou have been put into solitary confinement since Saturday. During a medical examination, it was found that he has lost 3 kilo weight and is suffering problems with his lungs and bronchial tube which have to be further examined and treated. Both will keep up their hunger strike.
On Saturday, January 28, 2006 at 1 pm there will be a demonstration of solidarity in front of the prison building in Bützow (Kühlungsborner Str. 29.a).
On Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 8.30 am there is a hearing at the Administrative Court in Schwerin concerning Mister Adrzakou’s “Asylfolgeverfahren”. This hearing was supposed to take place on Monday, January 16, 2006, but this was hindered by the illegal arrest of Mister Adrzakou by order of the immigration officials in Güstrow. Now after 8 days of hunger strike, Mister Adzrakou is to be transported from the JVA Bützow to Schwerin.
Inquired by Mister Moussabou’s lawyer, the UNHCR has once again underlined the dangers faced by Togolese refugees in case of their deportation. The UNHCR stated that regarding the situation in Togo its position declared on August 3, 2005 has not changed. “The danger of violations of human rights for ethnical and political reasons stated then which lead the UNHCR to call for a moratorium has – according to our knowledge – not been reduced”, as the UNHCR office in Nürnberg writes in a letter.
In a press release on January 23, 2006, Member of Parliament Ulla Jelbke (Linkspartei) criticized the officials’ actions and called for an immediate stop of deportations to Togo and for the immediate release of the Togolese dissidents from arrest.
International Campaign against the Dictatorship in Togo and other African Countries
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Military Dictatorship Togo -short background- download
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press release on January 23, 2006, Member of Parliament Ulla Jelbke (Linkspartei):
Stop deportations to Togo!
In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Alassane Moussabou and Anani Komi Adrzakou have entered into hunger strike for an indefinite period. They hereby protest against their deportation to Togo. Both of them have actively fought against the military regime of General Eyadema and his son. After their flight they have kept up this commitment. The UNHCR, the “Petitionsausschuss” of the “Landtag” (state parliament), the leader of the Linkspartei.PDS Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and hundreds of individuals have protested against the deportation of these two refugees. Ulla Jelpke, speaker of the coalition party Die Linke in the field of home affairs declared:
Togo is ruled by a brutal military regime. Applicants for political asylum who are deported to this country, “disappear” after their arrival if they do not have the chance to escape into one of the neighboring countries. According to the law, refugees may not be deported if they are in acute danger of being persecuted after their return. This is the case here. Alassane Moussabou is an activist of the “International Campaign against the Dictatorship in Togo and other African Countries”. Furthermore, Togo is not a “safe country of origin”, as Gernot Erler (SPD), permanent secretary at the Foreign Office explicitly stressed in a parliamentary speech last week. All these facts are known to the immigration officials. Nevertheless they try to get the Togolese refugees deported as soon as possible. They do not even stop at breaches of the law: Mister Adrzakou has been put into “Abschiebehaft” on the day of his legal hearing in his “Asylfolgeverfahren”. The hearing thus could not take place. The officials accord with what seems to be German and European refugee politics: The main goal is not to protect victims of war and persecution but to shield the European fortress and get rid of those who have climbed its walls. Die Linke in parliament demands to fully restore the 16th article of the Constitution (“Those who are politically persecuted are given asylum”) and to improve the humanitarian protection of refugees. We welcome the protests against the deportation of the Togolese refugees and call for the immediate release of Mister Moussabou and Mister Adrzakou from their arrest. We support the call for a general stop of deportations for refugees from Togo.
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- Alassane Moussbaou and Anani Komi Adzrakou on unlimited Hungerstrike
- The detention is extended until May 1st!
- The authorities plan charter-deportations to Togo in April!
- Further actions in support for Alassane Moussbaou needed!
Alassane Moussbaou and Anani Komi Adzrakou both refugee activists and political opponents of the dictatorship in Togo are detained in the prison in Bützow (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern).
They went on an unlimited Hungerstrike! It is the sharpest mean for prisoners to fight for their rights.
Alassane is detained since 2. of decembre and Anani was brought to Bützow on Monday 16th january. Anani immediatly declared his hungerstrike and because of that he is isolated form the other prisoners.
After sending this information to his laywer this afternoon he said he will talk tommorrow morning with the responsibles in prison that they have to remove this illegal treatment immediatly otherwise he will
undertake legal steps.
Anani was arrested on monday in the Ausländerbehörde in Güstrow when he was there to renew his Duldung. On the same day his case should be discussed in court (appeal against the rejection of his second application).
Now he got a new date on tuesday next week (8.30). They will bring him from deportation prison to the court in Schwerin.
On January 13th, the local district court (Amtsgericht) in Güstrow decided to extend the term of detention of Alassane Moussbaou until May. In their explanatoy statement they say, that the regional authorities will soon make a new attempt to deport him. A mass-deportation by charterflight directly to Lomé/Togo is planned for the end of April.
The "Plataforma der MigrantInnen und Flüchtlinge" (http://plataforma-berlin.de) organised an information event about the current situation in Togo on January 12th in Berlin. Opponents of the regime in Togo were invited. A reportage about the Eyadema-Regime was shown and the campaign against the dictatorship as well as the campaign against Alassanes deportation were presented. This film-documentation can very well be used for Information-events in other cities. (Contact the local Karawane-groups)
A protest-manifestation in front of the Permanent Representation (Landesvertretung) of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Berlin (In den Ministergärten 3) takes place on January 19.
Activists and supporters of refugees meet at 12:00 at Potsdamer Platz on the corner of Leipziger Str. / Erbertstr.
Another 500 protest-letters to the Interior Minister (Innenminister) have been signed. Bündnis90/dieGrünen from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern demanded from the Ministry of the Interior (Innenministerium) in a press statement entitled "Anyone who deportes Opponents of the Regime to Togo, is feeding Torture", the release of Mr. Moussbaou as well as a stay of all deportations to Togo for a duration of at least six months.
We keep on calling on all supporters to broaden the campaign and to address organizations, associations, etc. to write their own letters in support for Alassane Moussbaou to the Interior Minister (Innenminister). Those letters should also be provided to the press: Schweriner Volkszeitung, Lübecker Straße 20, 19053 Schwerin, Fax: 0385/5585545, mail: Irswh@svz.de
(please allways send a copy also to the Karawane-group in Hamburg)
Update/ 2006-01-17
After the failed deportation representatives of the regional authorities (Bundesamt) told Mr. Moussbaou, that they will extend the term of his detention and that if he upholds his refusial, a charter-deportation will be organised. On Wednesday, January 11th 06, the Committee of Petitions of the local parliament engaged in the the case and unanimously decided that a call for action is needed. The Committee requested the Ministry of the Interior (Innenministerium) for a stay of the deportation. Concerning this, no statement has been made yet.
Please call with new letters to the Ministry of the Interior (Innenministerium) for a release of Mr. Moussbaou from prison.
- Innenminster_BriefII_Alassane (Letter II/Alassane to the Innenministerium) -
Use your contacts to human-rights organisations and other groups that are taking a stand in the case of Mr. Moussbaou and are concerned about the deportations to Togo in general, so we can file those statements as a petition to the Committee of Petitions.
Please send those to: "Internationale Kampagne" c/o Brigittenstr.5, 20359 Hamburg; Tel +49(0)40-43 18 90 37; Fax: +49(0)40-43 18 90 38; mail free2move@nadir.org
Schweriner Volkszeitung 12.01.2006
Committee of Petitions intends to inspect Deportation Practices
Experts are supposed to reveal information about the current situation in Togo.
The Committee of Petitions of the local parliament unanimously asked Innenminister Gottfried Timm (SPD) for the time being, to grant a stay of the deportation that failed on Tuesday, concerning a Togolese living in this area. This was aquainted yesterday by Gerd Walther, the Chairman of the Linkspartei.PDS in the commission. The commission intends to deal with the appraisal of the situation in Togo and to inspect the deportation practice.
"It canÅft be accepted, that the evaluation of the Foreign Ministry still blatantly contradicts the evaluations of Human-Rights-Organisations", Walther said. That is why experts shall be heard. Also invited is the former president of the local parliament, Mr. Hinrich Kuessner (SPD), who is actively working in the development aid for Africa. Meanwhile PDS-members of the Bundestag demanded of Innenminister Timm the implementation of a stay of deportations for migrants from Togo. The deputy-chairman Petra Pau and the Bundesgesch_ftsf_hrer der Linkspartei, Dietmar Bartsch, in Berlin declaired, that the Foreign Ministry is obliged to elaborate an up-to-date assessment concerning the human-rights-conditions and the situation in Togo. The Interior Ministers should agree on a countrywide Stop of Deportations for migrants from Togo, until such an assessment is issued.
The deportation of the rejected asylum-seeker Allassane Moussbaou failed because of his resistance. According to the ministry in Schwerin this man remains in deportation-custody.
update 2
Hamburg, 10th of January
*Fortunately, the deportation of Alassane failed due to his refusal to be
deported and the decision of the pilot. He has now been sent back to the
deportation prison in Bützow. He has called and sends his greetings to
everyone. We are sorry to inform that another Togolese was already
deported by/with KLM. He was also in prison in Bützow.
Many thanks to all those who gave their support, especially for the quick
responses sent out to Air France. Your support is still urgently needed!
Warm Regards,
Caravan-Hamburg
Alassane Moussabou was to be deported 10th of January 06 to Lomé, Togo,
from the Hamburg Airport on a flight from Air France. He made it very
clear that he cannot be sent back to Togo and will not permit himself to
be repatriated. As a result, Alassane was then brought back
to the deportation prison in Bützow.
At 3am in the morning he was taken by three police officers to Hamburg. At
the airport he met with two criminal police dressed as civilians who told
him that they were going to accompany him. Alassane refused to be placed
on to the airplane. Shortly thereafter the pilot came over and
decided that he would not fly with Alassane on board. The police then told
him that the next time he would be tied hands and feet and deported with a
police escort. This all took place yesterday morning at around 7a.m.
According to the authorities, the deportation was to take place on a Air
France flight from Hamburg to Paris at 10:25a.m. Since Monday, the 9th of
January, numerous faxes were sent and telephone calls were made to the
offices of Air France. Supporters were located at the airport
and were handing out flyers and speaking to the passengers, whom were
informed of the situation. Several of them promised to intervene with the
pilot. The supervisor of the
Air France office in Hamburg also informed
us that the authorities had rebooked the flight on short notice, and that
Mr. Moussbaou was to be deported on an earlier flight.
Nevertheless, this also failed out of Alassane’s protest at the check-in
counter. At the moment, no new flight has been booked.
We later found out that at the end of last week the Landesamt (brunch of the Bundesamt)had changed the flight to an earlier time
and allegedly had not informed the Foreigners’ Office in Ludwigslust. This is supposedly
the reason why Alassane’s lawyer was given the wrong time
for the flight. Yesterday, his lawyer filed a Haftprüfung or writ of
habeas corpus at the Oberlandesgericht (Higher Regional Court) in Rostock.
Likewise, applications for his release and protection from deportation
have been filed before both the Härtefallkommission
(Hardship Commission) and the Petition Committee of the Regional
Parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
The campaign needs to be further strengthened in order to reach other
societal and political sectors. What you can do now:
- Send letters to the Ministry of the Interior (please send all copies to
the Caravan Hamburg)
- Make calls to the Ministry of the Interior and try to engage them in
direct conversation
- Get other persons and organisations to lend support
- How the petition application can be supported will be made known in brief.
- Donations are urgently necessary: Account for donations (please do not
forget to fill in the word “Togo-Kampagne”): Antirassistische Initiative
Berlin; Bank für Sozialwirtschaft; Kto: 30 39 600; BLZ: 100 205 00
Additionally, we have learned that another refugee from Togo was deported
yesterday on a KLM flight. He was also being held in the deportation at
Bützow following a previous failed deportation attempt.
On Tuesday, the 9th, a protest demonstration was held under the motto “No
extradition of the Togolese oppositional activist Alassane Moussabou to
the dictatorship in Togo! Stop deportations!”
Approximately 70 people took part in the demonstration, mostly Togolese
refugee activists opposed to the dictatorship and other activists from
distinct self-organized refugee groups and human rights organisations.
The demonstrators protested outside of the offices of the Interior
Minister, the headquarters of the political party PDS, and the Regional
Parliament, also informing the citizens of Schwerin on the streets about
the situation through flyers and speeches. The protest was especially loud
and enraged outside of the offices of the Interior Minister, who until
that time had refused any kind of comment. However, once outside his
offices, an employee of Mr. Timm informed the
demonstrators that nothing had changed regarding his position neither on
deportations to Togo nor in terms of the deportation of Mr. Moussbaou.
Once in front of the headquarters of the PDS, the demonstrators sharply
criticised the party for its direct and joint responsibility for
deportations. In a subsequent discussion which had been demanded by the
speaker of the “International Campaign Against the Dictatorship in Togo
and in Other African Countries,” representatives of the PDS agreed to a
joint discussion meeting with activists of the campaign and affected
refugees. It is important that we increase the pressure on the
PDS/Linkspartei—themselves part of the ruling coalition of
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern—especially on their national party member groups
and regional associations.
More in English: Free Alassane Moussbaou! Stop the deportations to Togo - on thevoiceforum.org
Enforce the campaign for Alassane Moussbaou!
Address your protest to the Interior Minister Gottfried Timm!
The authorities are planning to deliver Alassane Moussabou to the RPT-regime on the 10th of January 2006!
Violation of Residential Restriction Law (Residenzpflicht) is punished by deportation prison!
Alassane Moussbaou's appeal against the imprisonment has been rejected by the Regional Court (Landgericht) in Schwerin on the 20th of December 2005. His lawyer has immediately complained against this decision to the Higher Regional Court (Oberlandesgericht) in Rostock.
While already several hundreds of people have demanded the release of the Togolese opponent against the regime, Alassane Moussbaou, and the UNHCR is preparing a petition to the Administrative Court, the District Office (Landratsamt) has already announced the deportation for the 10th of January 2006.
The disregard of human kind
The letter by the District Administrator of Ludwigslust and the Regional Court’s decision speak for themselves. Although Alassane Moussbaou went to the authorities himself to renew his „Duldung“, he was taken in custody. His political activities and his visits to friends are criminalised by Residential Restriction law and threatened by deportation Prison: „There is actually reason to suspect the complainant of being willing to escape from deportation. Hereby it is to consider that the complainant keeps claiming his supposed right to leave the camp he has been sent to as he likes without informing the authorities about the place/the places where he stays. The trial gets some special quality concerning that the court in Ludwigslust has already declared a penalty order against the complainant because of violating Residential Obligation, so that he should have been reminded of his duty…” (from the reasons given by the 5th civil chamber of the Regional Court in Schwerin).
Fear of deportation is also considered as a reason for imprisonment, and the refusal to support deliberately one’s own delivery to the RPT-regime is as well punished by deportation prison:
„The statement that the complainant should have been “attacked” with the purpose of deportation of the 2nd of December and been set under fear and terror is significant… The incident on the 2nd of December 2005 can actually only be a surprise fort he complainant or set him under fear and terror if he has not been mentally prepared for leaving the Federal Republic of Germany…it is to suppose that he would escape from deportation. Into such a decision fits as well the reaction of the complainant during the arrest on the 2nd of December as the way he behaved so far. The complainant has been obliged…to present himself to the embassy of the Republic of Togo in order to receive a passport or a travelling document… Also in this case the obligation had to be achieved by force.”(from the letter by the District Administrator of Ludwigslust to the Regional Court)
Alassane Moussbaou (JVA Bützow Kühlungsborner Straße 29 A, 18246 Bützow) needs your solidarity and your concrete intervention!
Continue mobilising supporters, ask further organisations and associations to protest against Alassane’s deportation in the name of their group.
Fight injustice, especially when it presents itself as “normality”.
Address your protest directly to:
Innenministerium Mecklenburg Vorpommern (Interior Ministry)
Dr Gottfried Timm (Interior Minister)
Karl-Marx-Straße 1
19053 Schwerin
Tel.: 0385 588-0
Fax: 0385 588-2972
e-mail: poststelle@im.mv-regierung.de
Think about further possible forms of support, tell us your ideas and be ready for public action.
Committee for the Defense of Alassane Moussbaou
C/o Brigittenstr. 5 , 20359 Hamburg
Tel: +49-(0)40-43 18 90 37 Fax: +49-(0)40-43 18 90 38
mail: abdugafar3@hotmail.com or free2move@nadir.org www.thecaravan.org
Stop the collaboration of the German Offices
with the dictatorship in Togo and other African countries
In the last weeks over five asylum seekers from Togo have been deported from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The officials from the alien offices (Ausländerbehörden) had scheduled the deportation of three Togolese for December 20, 2005. These persons avoided the attacks aiming at their lifes and did not appear at the airport. On the same day a delegation from the “International Campaign against the Dictatorship in Togo and other African Countries” and from “The Caravan for the Rights of Refugees and Migrants” protested against the criminal deportation practice in front of the Home Ministry of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Schwerin. The Refugee Council (Flüchtlingsrat) of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern had invited to the action in Schwerin. It handed 320 letters to a representative of the home minister demanding the release of Alassane Moussbaou from deportation custody. Signatures of individuals demanding a general stop of deportations to Togo was given to the same representative as well. Expelling the responsibility from himself, the representative of the Home Ministry referred to the Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt) that sees no problems for deportations to Togo.
Since years the Federal Foreign Office is constructing lies in this manner to deport and to strengthen the regime in Lomé. All evidence of Togolese organisations and lawyers proving the persecution and torture of deported refugees have been ignored. The “International Campaign against the Dictatorship in Togo and other African Countries” has always protested against the wrong country reports of the Federal Foreign Office. During a protest action in front of the Federal Foreign Office in spring 2004 a conversation took place with the responsible person of the office for West Africa. He started the conversation stating, that he knows how hard the situation in Togo is. The speaker of the Togolese opposition remarked that their being there is not because of the situation in Togo, but because of the support of Germany for the Togolese Dictatorship. The country reports of the Federal Foreign Office neglect the facts known to the office and gives a wrong picture of the situation. On the basis of these reports the judges of the administrative tribunals (Verwaltungsgerichte) reject the asylum demands of regime opponents from Togo.
In the “International Campaign against the Dictatorship in Togo and other African Countries” we have made the experience that no responsible official in direct conversation denies the existence of the tyranny imposed by the dictatorship in Togo, but no one derives the consequences in order to protect refugees from Togo. Disregarding all the facts the number of deportations is increased and their executions is accelerated. All the responsible German officials repel the responsibility by referring to other state offices.
For us all the offices are responsible: the local alien offices (Ausländerbehörden), the administrative tribunals (Verwaltungsgerichte), the Federal Office for Refugees and Migrants and the Federal Foreign Office. All of them can act! To deport persecuted people back into a dictatorship is criminal, no matter which laws apply nor what the boundary conditions dictate!
Therefore, is it essential for the “International Campaign against the Dictatorship in Togo and other African Countries” to state clearly, that no one can repel the responsibility. The classical excuses “We do only our job” or “We did not know…” can not be used after the experience of the Nazi Fascism. The relevance of the deportation policy, of the special racist laws, of the discrimination and the inhuman treatment of refugees as an indicator for the society’s progress or degeneration must be seen in its complete depth. Ignorance of, looking away from, or playing down the criminal acts is supporting the enemies of democracy and human rights.
Since the son of the old dictator, Faure Eyadema, took the power and continued strengthening the Eyadema dynasty in Togo the situation in Togo has become critical for the people. The offensive of the military and of the RPT militias for months has expelled ten thousands of people. Many hundreds of people have been killed. The raping, torture and injuries can not be counted. This is the incomplete fact of the first 10 month of Faure Eyadema’s ruling. The European governments want to mislead the public again and tell us, that in Togo the policy has changed, in order to prepare mass deportations and start with court case to withdraw asylum status (Wiederrufsverfahren). The intensification of these cases has been started after the implementation of the new immigration act (Zuwanderungsgesetz) in January 2005. The officials want to take away the secure residence permit for those people who got asylum years ago, because the reasons for asylum are supposedly not valid anymore. In the northern part of Germany 15 Togolese have received such official letters. Already in April 2004 the “International Campaign against the Dictatorship in Togo and other African Countries” warned the public and interpreted the mass deportation from the airport in Hamburg as a sign that no one is save in Germany anymore.
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is special in persecution of Togolese refugees. Out of 1000 refugees living in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 500 are facing immediate deportation threat. The administrative tribunal in Schwerin decides on a single day about more than 10 post-asylum cases (Asylfolgeanträge). The cases are terminated within minutes and the affected persons know that the negative decision had been made in advance. Because of the intensive cooperation between the German offices and the Togolese embassy the necessary documents for deportation could be prepared. Many refugees have been pushed into illegality and are in permanent fear of the police. The practice of the state generates a climate of terror and fear upon the refugees. One example that reflects the daily situation:
A woman, that was asked to leave the country, officially expressed her will to marry. The leader of the appropriate alien office (Ausländerbehörde) told her, that the permit to stay will be extended due to the coming wedding. For this reason she was asked to visit the office on the next day. She went back to the place where she lived, and was prepared to go to the office on the next day. On 3 am over ten policemen came to the place where she lived. They took position in front of the door and those of the neighbours. One of them knocked with the fist on the door. The woman opened the door and immediately fainted. Because she did not wake up, an ambulance was called after a while and she was brought to the hospital, where she was reanimated.
The Togolese refugees and the activists from the “International Campaign against the Dictatorship in Togo and other African Countries” continue fighting for their rights and for their life.
Everyone is asked to act and practice solidarity.
Campaign