Togo President Urges Soldiers to End Revolt

LOME, Togo â€”  President Gnassingbe Eyadema late Friday urged soldiers to give up their attempt to restore his power, while 300 French troops remained poised nearby to intervene.

Rebel soldiers were besieging the oceanside palace of reformist Prime Minister Joseph Koffigoh, which they surrounded with tanks on Wednesday. The soldiers were trying to starve Koffigoh out, refusing to let food into his complex.

The dissidents have threatened to “reduce the city to ashes� if Eyadema does not name a new government. This amounted to a demand for the reinstatement of Togo’s 24-year military ruler, who was stripped of all but ceremonial powers by Koffigoh’s government in August.

In the broadcast, a statement read on behalf of Eyadema said the president “renews his trust in the prime minister . . . and invites him to start consultations with all the country’s political groups with a view to forming a transitional government of national unity.

“Furthermore, the head of state reiterates his call for the soldiers occupying strategic points in the capital to return to their barracks.�

Eyadema, himself saved by a French intervention in 1986, appeared to be calling on Koffigoh to persuade his Cabinet to lift the ban on the president’s party, Rally of the Togolese People. The troops surrounded Koffigoh’s palace after the ban.

Koffigoh already has indicated that he won’t bar the party from participating in politics.

There was no immediate indication whether the troops would heed Eyadema’s call to return to barracks. Sources close to Koffigoh said the palace was low on food. At least 50 palace guards as well as two advisers were believed to be with Koffigoh.

At least 23 deaths have been reported in clashes between troops and Koffigoh supporters since the party was banned Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, French paratroopers and marines were camping at the airport in Cotonou, Benin, 90 miles to the east and half an hour away by plane.

France said it sent the troops there to defend the 3,000 French nationals in Togo, as well as the democratic process. Koffigoh had requested French military intervention under a mutual defense treaty between Togo and its former colony.