It's post-election time in Lome.
If you haven't been keeping track: The longtime dictator died a few months ago, and his son was installed in his place, flouting the constitution. The African Union made a fuss, the Togolese military relented, and elections occurred Sunday.
Despite a unified opposition candidate, the dictator's son won by a 20 percent margin. The US Embassy and neighboring countries had some observers there, so I'll leave the "free and fair election" decision to them. But I bet if you guess, you'll guess right. Now the angry people of Lome, which are largely of a different ethnic group than the dictator's clan, are tearing up the place in frustration. Most of the Lebanese traders have left, and the Chinese Embassy was attacked.
We're supposed to leave for Lome on 31 August. Where does this leave us? Well, the Embassy is now on Authorized Depature for family members, which means that the USG will pay the tab for any family who wants to leave. There's also a curfew. It's all here, in the State Department's latest Travel Warning.
Here's the latest news.
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