West African leaders condemn coup, demand return to old constitution

Mr. Eme Ijioma, 43, has just off-loaded bales of secondhand clothes from a truck from Benin Republic. He is the boss and major distributor of such materials in the Yaba Secondhand clothes market. Other traders are already waiting to pay for and collect the bales, which they in turn will take to their shops within the market.

The materials are smuggled at night through the numerous bush paths along the porous Nigeria-Benin border. ''We are disturbed by the customs because importation of secondhand clothes has been banned by the government and anyone caught has his goods seized but we always find a way out,'' says Ijioma, who is the President of Ogbamba Traders Association, in the market.

In spite of the ban, secondhand clothes have continued to find their ways into the ever- growing bend-down boutiques popularly called ''Okrika markets'' located in major cities in Nigeria. The trend, acccording to manufacturers, poses a serious threat to the continued existence of local textile mills.
Massive importation of textiles both secondhand and new garments especially from Asia coupled with high cost of production locally, has led to the shutting down of 65 local textile mills and the laying off of a total of 150,000 textile workers in the last decade, according to Comrade Issa Aremu, General Secretary of Textile, Tailoring and Garment Union.

''More than one million other persons whose jobs are linked to the textile industry, such as traders and cotton farmers have lost their means of livelihood as a result of the closures. Presently, there are just about 50,000 workers left in the textile sector which used to be the highest employer of labour,'' Aremu said in a telephone interview from the northern textile city of Kaduna.

Apart from this menace, an agreement signed last November between Nigeria and Benin Republic, which allows goods from both countries free passage through their common borders, is giving local textile manufacturers some serious concerns.

''The border agreement with Benin Republic tells the futility of top-down governance just the same way it was done under the military regime of late General Sani Abacha, during which Nigerian government joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO) without being a trading country and without consulting widely with stakeholders at home,'' Aremu said.

According to him, ''the Nigerian government is today repeating that same mistake at the sub-regional level by signing the agreement with Benin Republic without taking into consideration how it would adversely affect the nation's economy and its people''.

''Benin Republic economy is purely a smuggling economy. Benin is a trading post for made-in-China and Malaysian goods. The border agreement will further compound the problem of smuggling and impact negatively on our deteriorating industry,'' he stated.

The textiles union, which is yet to formally protest to the government over the border agreement, is also angry that the government plans to join the Economic Community of West African States' harmonised tariff structure.
''In the 2005 budget, Nigeria plans to join ECOWAS harmonised tariff structure which means we will lower our tariff structure from the current 55 percent to 18 percent. If you lower tariff, you create avenue to flood your market with imported goods. Why is Nigeria eager to lower tariff when Ghana is not doing so? Apart from Nigeria and Ghana, the other countries on the West African coast are just trading posts for China, Indonesia and France,'' Aremu stated.

The Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association (NTMA) believes that ordinarily the agreement with Cotonou would not be a threat to the local textile industry since Benin only has four textile mills out of which only one is producing Nigeria's kind of fabrics, but like the textile workers, NTMA is worried that unscrupulous business men would take advantage of the agreement to smuggle goods from other countries.

''The new border policy is commendable as it should foster increased trade and commerce between both countries but if care is not taken, it may cause us more troubles because the smugglers can use the Benin border to smuggle goods from elsewhere, and if not properly monitored, the menace of smuggling will be compounded to the detriment of local industries'' says Comrade Jaiyeola Olarewaju, NTMA Executive Secretary.

Already, secondhand textile materials from shirts, trousers, pants, T-shirts, bed sheets, window blinds, stockings, handbags and shoes are a common site at bend-down boutiques in Lagos. These and new but relatively cheap textiles from China, Indonesia and Malaysia are highly patronised by citizens because of the economic crunch. ''The purchasing power of most citizens is now directed to secondhand goods and this erodes the productive capacity of the Nigerian textile industry,'' says Mr. Petrus Afolabi, an economist.

He explained that the prices of local materials are higher because manufacturers have to produce at a very high cost since they have to depend on generators to power their machines as electricity from the public service are epileptic. ''The companies also have to have their own boreholes as there is no water while at the same time they have to pay taxes to the federal, state and local governments. All these are added to production cost of local materials,'' Afolabi said.

But while textile manufacturers continue to worry about the impact of secondhand clothes on the industry, those who patronise bend-down boutiques are enjoying their money's worth.

Meeting in Niger on Wednesday, nine presidents of the 15-nation Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS), condemned the military-backed
seizure of power by Faure Gnassingbe following the death in office of his
father, Gnassingbe Eyadema.

"The heads of state strongly condemn the military intervention which led
to Faure Gnassingbe being installed as the successor to the deceased
president," ECOWAS said in a statement following five hours of talks in
the Niger capital, Niamey.

"They agree that this constitutes a coup d'etat and they condemn the
subsequent manipulation of the constitution by parliament," it added.

A high-powered ECOWAS delegation, including the presidents of Ghana, Mali,
Niger and Nigeria, is set to visit Lome on Friday to demand that Togo
returns to the constitution, as it was before it was hastily rewritten at
Gnassingbe's bidding on Sunday, or face the consequences.

"The delegation is fervently urged to express to the Togolese authorities,
the necessity to return to the status quo ante," the ECOWAS statement
said. "In case of refusal... sanctions would be rigorously applied."

Following the sudden death of Eyadema on Saturday after 38 years in power,
the Togolese armed forces installed his 39-year-old son, Faure Gnassingbe,
as president of the small West African nation.

In doing so, they violated the constitution. This stipulated that power
should pass to Fambare Ouattara Natchaba, the head of Togo's national
assembly, who would be charged with organising presidential elections
within 60 days.

Following a chorus of international condemnation, Togo's parliament, which
is dominated by Eyadema's Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) party, was
hastily convened on Sunday to retroactively legitimise Gnassingbe's
seizure of power.

Natchaba was voted out as head of the national assembly and was replaced
by Gnassingbe. In addition, parliament amended the constitution to allow
Gnassingbe to rule for the next three years by serving out the remainder
of his father's term.

But these moves failed to impress other African leaders, who are bent on
putting a stop to coups on the continent.

"We think that what has happened in Togo is a big setback for democracy in
Africa," said Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade, whose country has
enjoyed uninterrupted civilian rule since independence in 1960.

"The authorities in Lome have nothing to gain from continuing along this
path," he told reporters after the ECOWAS summit in Niamey. "It will not
be accepted by ECOWAS, by the African Union or by the international
community," he said. "I am asking them to come to their senses."

The Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, which groups France
and its former colonies in Africa, on Wednesday suspended Togo's
membership after Gnassingbe's seizure of power.

The African Union has threatened sanctions and European Union officials
have hinted that negotiations on a resumption of EU aid to Togo, following
a break of 12 years, would be put on ice.

Gnassingbe, who was Minister of Public Works, Mines and Telecommunications
until his dramatic elevation at the weekend, promised fresh elections and
a dialogue with the opposition in his first broadcast to the nation on
Wednesday.

But the new leader did not commit himself to a date for elections. Neither
did he say whether the promised elections would provide an opportunity for
Togo's five million people to choose a new president as well as a new
parliament.

Eyadema, who ruled Togo with an iron fist for almost four decades, had
already pledged to hold a legislative poll in 2005 as part of his attempts
to improve relations with the EU.

The European Commission suspended aid to Togo in 1993 over concerns about
its democratic credentials, good governance and human rights record, but
diplomats have said that until Eyadema's death, the country was one good
legislative election away from aid being resumed.

The Togolese authorities offered no immediate reaction to Wednesday's
stinging rebuke from ECOWAS, but opposition parties expressed their
satisfaction.

"We, like ECOWAS, are demanding a return to the constitution," Martin
Aduayom, head of the Democratic Convention for African People (CDPA), told
IRIN on Thursday. "We are talking about a military coup d'etat, that has
been cosmetically disguised by a constitutional modification."

He said the opposition was planning a peaceful march through Lome on
Saturday to protest against the Gnassingbe's military-backed takeover, in
a spite of a two-month ban on public demonstrations that the new
government imposed earlier this week.

Meanwhile, Togo's independent media have come under pressure to avoid
criticism of Gnassingbe's assumption of power.

The army, whose senior ranks are dominated by members of Gnassingbe's
Kabiye ethnic group from northern Togo, issued a statement on Thursday
warning journalists about their coverage.

"The media are playing a dangerous game which could have unpredictable
consequences. We have all the necessary means to put an end to that," it
warned.

On Wednesday, the authorities silenced FM broadcasts by Radio France
Internationale in Lome and warned three local radio stations to stop
broadcasting phone-in programmes which had been used by members of the
public to criticise the new regime.