LOME, JULY 23: French President Jacques Chirac has agitated opposition activists in Africa by suggesting that the continent should be allowed to move towards democracy at its own pace.Opposition politicians in Togo, where Chirac arrived yesterday on the second leg of an African tour, expressed concern about his concept of an ``African rhythm'' for democratic change.``We listened to what Mr Chirac had to say in Guinea and we are a little concerned,'' Jean-Pierre Fabre, vice-president of the Union of Forces for Change (UFC), told mediapersons.Togo's Gnassingbe Eyadema, black Africa's longest-serving head-of-state, seized power in 1967. President Lansana Conte of Guinea, the first stop on Chirac's tour, took power in 1984.Both won 1998 presidential elections which the opposition say were rigged.``We had thought that Mr Chirac would perhaps come to say things to persuade Mr Eyadema to. allow an alternation of power,'' Fabre said.``It's not the leaders, it's the people who dictate the rhythm,'' he added.Togo's government and opposition have just begun talks on defusing an enduring political crisis amidst allegations of extra-judicial killings during its 1998 presidential election.Exiled UFC leader Gilchrist Olympio, the target of a 1992 assassination bid, has stayed away from the talks in Lome saying that he fears for his life. Chirac, who travels to Nigeria today and Cameroon tomorrow said in Guinea on Wednesday that Africa had its own rhythm which should be respected.Cameroonian journalist Puis Njawe of Le Messager newspaper, a leading African democracy activist, described Chirac's comments as ``an insult to the continent'' in a interview with the French newspaper La Croix.``So Africa has no right to democracy immediately, to respectable heads of state ?'' he asked.``Jacques Chirac calls (Slobodan) Milosevic, the Yugoslav President, a dictator and says he must go. But we Africans, who have hosts of Milosevices, we must keep them,'' he said.Njawe spent 10 months in jail in 1998 accused of spreading false information with a report that President Paul Biya had possible heart trouble. Biya gave him a Presidential pardon.French officials say that Chirac, who has called for respect for the rule of law and democracy, planned to ``bring his own contribution to the success of the dialogue'' in Togo.London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International has accused the Eyadema administration of killing opponents at the time of the 1998 election and dumping their bodies at sea.The government has dismissed the allegations as lies but officials say it is prepared to cooperate with an international investigation into the allegations.The European Union has made restoration of aid cut off in 1993 conditional on resolution of the political crisis.
