Implementation of the reparations program / Emotions and compassion in Bè

The penultimate stage of the HCRRUN awareness-raising tour on the reparations programme took place on Tuesday, May 30, 2017, in the gardens of the Bè Community Centre in Lomé. Residents from the five districts of the Commune of Lomé were invited to attend presentations by the President of HCRRUN, Mrs. Awa Nana-Daboya, and the resource persons accompanying her. Administrative, local, and traditional authorities were also present, notably the President of the Special Delegation of the City of Lomé, Mr. Fogan Adégnon.

Participants expressed their appreciation for the presence of the HCRRUN delegation and for this initiative, which enabled them to gain a better understanding of the reparations process through the explanations provided by the institution’s resource persons. When the floor was opened to the public, one participant stated: “I am in favour of compensation, but not symbolic compensation, because the events of 2005 have left me suffering to this day. I am asking for comprehensive care and support.”

Other concerns raised during the meeting focused on the bodies reportedly found in the Bè Lagoon, expropriations, the start and duration of the compensation process, and guarantees of non-repetition. One participant, visibly distressed, recounted that since her son was killed in 2005 and taken to the Lomé morgue, she had never seen his body. She explained that she had recently been informed that the body had been buried somewhere, without the exact location being known, and called on HCRRUN to shed light on the matter.

The emotion intensified when another participant, recounting the ordeal she experienced at the hands of soldiers in 2005 and the lasting effects of those events, called for forgiveness to become a shared principle among all Togolese people. “Hatred does us no good. From now on, only forgiveness should matter,” she said.

In response to these testimonies, the President of HCRRUN, the resource persons, and the President of the Special Delegation of the City of Lomé sought the appropriate words to comfort and reassure the participants. “We have understood your pain and your suffering. We will work on it,” concluded Mrs. Awa Nana-Daboya, visibly moved by the testimonies shared during this information and awareness-raising session in Bè.