The separatist group, Western Togoland Restoration Front has given the Government a 24-hour ultimatum to withdraw all security forces in “their areas” to pave way for what they described as peaceful retrieval of missing weapons from their youth and hand them over to the security forces.
“We also call on the Ghanaian authorities to withdraw its security forces within 24 hours from today so our Traditional Authorities and Western Togoland government leaders can meet our youth to retrieve the missing weapons to hand over to them.” – The group said in a statement.
Read the full statement:
RELEASE #7: (10-06-20):
GHANA SECURITY ESCALATES BRUTALITIES AGAINST WESTERN TOGOLANDERS
Inspite warnings to Ghanaian authorities to cease hostilities in our country to ensure peace to prevail, its security forces continue harassing our people, arresting and torturing them in detention to extract information from them, forcefully breaking into the homes of our citizens and molesting them. All this despite the fact that Ghana is a signatory to the U.N. Anti-Torture Convention.
We call on the relevant U.N. body responsible for monitoring compliance to its Anti-Torture Convention to immediately verify our assertions.
We also call on the Ghanaian authorities to withdraw its security forces within 24 hours from today so our Traditional Authorities and Western Togoland government leaders can meet our youth to retrieve the missing weapons to hand over to them.
The leadership of Western Togoland Interim Government wishes to inform the ENTIRE WORLD that the Friday, September 25 Demonstrations were planned as peaceful ones to put our case of ILLEGAL OCCUPATION AND EXPLOITATION by Ghana across.
That was why the demonstrators were not armed. It was when Ghanaian security forces started spraying these UNARMED PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATORS with AK47 bullets that things turned ugly. They seized their weapons to defend themselves. Everybody is entitled to the RIGHT OF SELF DEFENSE.
To.date in addition to the brutalities mentioned above, Ghanaian securities inflicted 5 deaths on our people on the Demonstration day: 1 in Battor, 3 in Vume and 1 in Juapon. At least 20 incurred various degrees of injury. Not all of them were even demonstrators.
We again wish to reiterate that at least at one demonstration location where there were no armed confrontations against our demonstrators, there were no casualties. The Ghanaian Police Commander in Asuogyaman County in the West Dzeta Province of Western Togoland chose to treat them as HUMAN BEINGS and negotiated with them for a peaceful resolution.
Again we are giving the government of Ghana 24 hours from the date of this release to withdraw its forces and allow our Traditional Authorities and the leadership of the Interim Government of Western Togoland to peacefully retrieve their weapons for them.
We have used peaceful means to demand a peaceful end to the ILLEGAL OCCUPATION AND EXPLOITATION of our human and natural resources since 1957 but we have received in return militarized BRUTALITIES and imprisonments from Ghanaian authorities since. The time has come for us to say: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. PATIENCE HAS ITS LIMITS
FROM THE INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTORATE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF WESTERN TOGOLAND.
CONTACT:
0594889670/0561774937