Inquiry opens into alleged Togo summary executions

LOME, Togo (Reuters) -- An international inquiry has opened into alleged summary executions by Togolese soldiers during a 1998 presidential election campaign, an investigator said.

Mahamat Akabar, a lawyer from Chad, said late on Monday that a joint United Nations/Organization of African Unity (OAU) inquiry had begun its work in Togo's capital Lome earlier in the day, meeting President Gnassingbe Eyadema.

Human rights group Amnesty International alleged in a May 1999 report that the country's armed forces had summarily executed hundreds of people during the run-up to a presidential election in 1998.

The government of Eyadema, who won the poll, disputed the allegations and invited the U.N., and the OAU -- of which he is now chairman -- to investigate.

Akabar said the Togolese authorities had given a "guarantee that those called to testify before the commission will not be harassed."

He added that the Togolese government had also dropped a lawsuit against the secretary-general of Amnesty International after the three-man inquiry team, including a Brazilian and a Nigerian, arrived in the country at the weekend.

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