One small step toward free press, EU aid

An opposition-leaning journalist has taken over as head of Togo's media regulatory body amid promises of a freer press – one of the key conditions set by the European Union for resuming the aid it cut off more than a decade ago. But Philippe Evegno, publisher of the weekly independent magazine "Le Point" and the new head of the broadcast and communication authority (HAAC), knows he has his work cut out for him. "I'm both honoured and worried," he told IRIN after his election on Friday by fellow members of the newly overhauled HAAC. "Honoured that I was chosen and worried when I think of the size of the job ahead of us." Evegno, who has been linked to the opposition and spent a month in jail in 2004 for allegedly spreading false reports and posing a threat to the public order, has the daunting task of wresting Togo's media from government domination and turning them into tools for dialogue and democracy. This objective is part of a 22-point roadmap agreed between Togo and the EU last year as a precondition to getting much-needed aid flowing again to this tiny West African country. Europe stopped most of its assistance in 1993 due to concerns over human rights and democracy. The roadmap's implementation has been slow and uneven, however, and not everyone is convinced that the government wants to see free and independent media. "I hope they'll let him work without applying the kind of pressure we saw put on his predecessor," radio journalist Wenceslas Ayikutu told IRIN. HAAC's outgoing boss Georges Combevi Agbodjan was widely criticised by journalists and opposition figures for his crackdowns on the media in the troubled days and months following the death of long-time President Gnassingbe Eyadema on 5 February. Radio France Internationale was taken off the air, local radio stations were told to stop broadcasting phone-in programmes and mobile phone signals were jammed as the late president's son, Faure Gnassingbe, seized the country's top post. The power grab was unconstitutional, however, and violent protests and international pressure forced Gnassingbe to step down and allow for presidential elections. He won the April contest amid fraud allegations and political violence that led 40,000 people to flee the country and - according to a UN report released last month - claimed between 400 and 500 lives. While the political violence appears largely to have ended, incidents like the brutal beating last week of an opposition journalist have fed apprehensions about Togo's progress on promised reforms. "There's been a lot of backsliding since 5 February on two essential points of the 22 commitments, that is to say, in terms of democracy and national dialogue," a European official said on condition of anonymity. And European optimism over Evegno's appointment is guarded, the official said, because eight of the HAAC's nine members are loyal to the president. Despite lingering qualms, the EU in August announced it was willing to help fund parliamentary elections which Gnassingbe has vowed to hold as soon as possible. But the extent to which Evegno genuinely has a free hand at the HAAC will a go a long way in determining just how fair those elections will be. On that front, the new media boss is both a realist and an optimist. "I hope that my colleagues and I will be free to do our work," he told IRIN. "And I'm convinced that we will be."