P 161640Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY LOME
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9072
INFO AMEMBASSY ACCRA 
AMEMBASSY COTONOU 
AMEMBASSY OUAGADOUGOU 
AMEMBASSY PARIS

C O N F I D E N T I A L LOME 000126 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/16/2019 
TAGS: PGOV ASEC TO
SUBJECT: TOGO: UPDATE ON SECURITY SITUATION 
 
REF: A. LOME 120 
     ¶B. LOME 119 
     ¶C. LOME 115 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR PATRICIA M. HAWKINS FOR REASONS 1.4(B) 
AND (D) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary. Parliamentarian and half-brother to President 
Faure, Kpatcha Gnassingbe, remains in custody after being 
arrested at the entrance of the U.S. Embassy the morning of 
Wednesday, April 15 (ref A). The Togolese intelligence 
agency, ANR, is currently in possession of a large weapons 
cache purportedly removed from Kpatcha's residence. The state 
prosecutor has issued several communiques addressing the 
situation and has made public the terms of the arrest 
warrant. The question of his parliamentary immunity from 
arrest is already being widely discussed, and both local and 
international press have kept up a steady stream of articles 
on yesterday's incident. End Comment. 
 
¶2. (C) ARSO met with Commandant Massina, director of the ANR, 
late afternoon on April 15 at ANR headquarters. Massina said 
that Kpatcha was being held there. Massina proceeded to show 
ARSO a large weapons cache that he stated was taken from 
Kpatcha's compound. According to ARSO's estimate, the cache 
included several different types of high caliber machine 
guns, sub-machine guns and various types of handguns. Police 
and military uniforms were found with the weapons. Massina 
also indicated that Kpatcha had given $1 million to a 
Togolese army captain to recruit co-conspirators. 
 
¶3. (U) The state prosecutor, Robert Bakai, stated in a 
communique on April 13 that what happened at Kpatcha's 
residence on April 12-13 was a reaction to evidence proving 
that a coup attempt was imminent. Interestingly, the 
statement said that a gendarmerie force went to the house to 
question Kpatcha, and shots were fired (it does not indicate 
who fired first; later eye-witness reports stated that the 
Rapid Intervention Unit (FIR) charged the compound). The 
warrant for Kpatcha's arrest was dated April 14 and was 
signed by an investigative judge; the charges are 1) 
attempted attack on state security and 2) the recruiting of 
criminals under articles 4, 187, 229, 230 and 232 of the 
Togolese Penal Code. Bakai issued a second communique on 
April 15, which informed the public that the GOT had proof 
that Kpatcha was involved in an attack against the security 
of the state and again referenced the accusations against 
him. 
 
¶4. (U) The Executive Board of the National Assembly (NA) 
issued a statement on April 16 which did not address the 
issue of parliamentary immunity. It referenced the charges 
brought by the state prosecutor and acknowledged the 
seriousness of the crime. The communique, signed by the 
President of the National Assembly, Abass Bonfoh, said that 
the Executive Board would support the judicial authorities 
with the process and asked that the parliamentarians and the 
population stay calm and patient during the investigation of 
this affair. 
 
¶5. (U) The Union of the Forces of Change (UFC), the largest 
opposition party, issued a surprisingly forceful condemnation 
of the GOT's actions against Kpatcha. (Comment: The UFC 
forcefully condemns every action taken by the GOT or the 
ruling Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), so this position 
should not be interpreted as support for Kpatcha. End 
Comment.)  The communique, issued on April 14 and signed by 
Patrick Lawson, the first vice-president, points out that it 
is illegal for security forces to go to a home at 22:00 to 
question a suspect. In addition, the communique states that 
even if questioning is necessary, it should never be carried 
out by the military, let alone the FIR. Lawson, himself a 
member of the National Assembly, notes that Kpatcha has 
parliamentary immunity and that the NA had never received a 
request to waive Kpatcha's immunity. He accuses the RPT of 
continuing to involve the military in political debates. The 
UFC requests that the NA start a debate in the current 
session about impunity questions and respect for 
parliamentary immunity, question the military about the 
events of April 12-13, and put a commission in place to 
investigate the same military operation. 
 
¶6. (U) Both local and international press have reported 
widely on the attack on Kpatcha's compound and his attempt to 
take refuge at the Embassy. Local papers (although notably 
not the pro-RPT newspaper Togo Presse) have shown numerous 
photos of Kpatcha's destroyed house. French and English 
newspapers have run the official Embassy statement, and only 
a few have used the word "asylum;" most are correctly using 
the word refuge. The reports indicating his presence on 
Embassy grounds have been fairly ambiguous. 
 
¶7. (C) Comment. The discovery of police uniforms indicates a 
higher level of planning than was originally thought. EmbOffs 
felt it unlikely that the coup plotters would be able to 
coordinate the arrests of ten different people at different 
locations, which was part of the plan, but throwing police 
impersonators into the mix would have created chaos. The 
information that Kpatcha paid such a large sum to recruit 
co-conspirators raises once again the question of his 
involvement in the drug trade, as it is hard to fathom 
another way that he could have come by that much cash. The 
GOT is making every attempt to follow the letter of the law 
in this situation, and the Ambassador received the personal 
assurances of the Prime Minister that the prisoners will be 
treated fairly and humanely. The GOT also announced that the 
United Nations High Commission for Human Rights 
representative will be allowed frequent access to check on 
the condition of the prisoners. The question of Kpatcha's 
parliamentary immunity remains, but the Embassy has thus far 
been satisfied with the legality of GOT actions. End Comment. 
 
HAWKINS