R 121414Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY LOME
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 8931
INFO AMEMBASSY ACCRA 
AMEMBASSY COTONOU 
AMEMBASSY OUAGADOUGOU 
AMEMBASSY PARIS

UNCLAS LOME 000686 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM TO
SUBJECT: TOGO: CAR PARTY HOLDS CONGRESS, DISCUSSES FUTURE 
PLANS 
 
REF: LOME 280 
 
¶1. The third largest political party in Togo, the Action 
Committee for Renewal, held its party congress October 17-18. 
There were several unexpected surprises, including the 
presence of the Union of the Forces of Change (UFC) 
opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio and the election of a new 
president of the CAR. The party presented a document with its 
basic platform, the party further clarified several points 
when the entire newly elected leadership called on the 
Ambassador in November. While the CAR has made several high 
profile changes in recent months, it continues its repetition 
of the same basic statements, making it questionable as to 
whether the party has any influence in Togo anymore. End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. The congress, only the second in the CAR's history, was 
held at the fairgrounds near the airport, and was decorated 
with festive red decorations. A large numbers of CAR party 
members were in attendance, and the opening ceremony had a 
definite party feeling. High-level representatives from all 
the major parties in Togo attended, the most surprising being 
UFC president Olympio, who splits his time between Paris and 
Accra. The theme of the congress was "Mobilization for an 
Alternative in 2010." In addition to the then-president of 
the CAR, Yaovi Agboyibo, Olympio and Rally of the Togolese 
People (RPT) representative Agbo spoke at the opening 
ceremony. 
 
¶3. The most unexpected change during the congress was the 
election of a new president. Agboyibo has been the leader of 
the CAR since the early 1990s, when the party was founded. 
The reputation of the party is unquestionably linked to him. 
Agboyibo is now an honorary president, and Mr. Dodji Apevon 
is the president. The party also decided to wait to choose a 
presidential candidate for the 2010 elections, but announced 
that another meeting will be held within 6 months to decide 
on the candidate. 
 
¶4. The CAR issued a general declaration concerning the 
political situation in Togo. The party claims that the crisis 
in Togo today is essentially political in nature, and the 
government is implementing its own policies instead of 
following the decisions put in place by the government of 
national unity, as was foreseen. The declaration calls for a 
general reinforcement of democracy, decentralization, and the 
further implementation of the Global Political Agreement 
(GPA) of 2006 (Agboyibo played a leading role in the 
formulation of that agreement). In a subsequent conversation 
with the Ambassador, CAR leadership discussed the need to 
stop thinking about the past, yet still discussed at length 
the need to continue implementation of the GPA provisions. In 
the same conversation, the members described the fear people 
already have of the 2010 presidential elections and stated 
that the international community should get involved. 
 
¶5. The declaration also addressed the economy, social 
affairs, sports and culture, and international politics. The 
CAR party is concerned with specific aspects of the economy, 
namely infrastructure, the energy crisis, corruption at all 
levels of society, and inefficient parastatals. The 
declaration repeats the party's position that the problems 
stem from politics, and the high budgetary deficit, balance 
of payments problems, and the unemployment rate are all 
unacceptable. The social problems are mainly located within 
the education, sanitation, and security sectors. 
 
¶6. Comment. The change in party leadership seems to be a move 
to guarantee the continued existence of the party in the 
absence of Agboyibo, although he will more than likely be the 
presidential candidate for 2010. The party keeps stating that 
it wants to move into the future towards a better democracy, 
yet it refuses to participate in any process that did not 
stem directly from the GPA or Agboyibo's time as prime 
minister. The arrival of Olympio at the congress was 
significant, as he and Agboyibo have purportedly been at odds 
recently, but Agboyibo's desire to unite behind a (CAR) 
presidential candidate will not be realized, as Olympio is 
already his party's candidate. With only 4 seats in the 
National Assembly, the party needs to find a way to 
distinguish itself if it wishes to continue to be a player in 
Togolese politics. End Comment. 
 
 
HAWKINS