Togo's army clashed with protesters in the capital Lome on Saturday, killing at least three people, while a government delegation was in Niger to hear a warning from African leaders demanding a return to constitutional rule. Faure Gnassingbe, who was named president by the army last Saturday hours after the sudden death of his father, was not part of the delegation, which was summoned to Niger by West African leaders who have condemned the take-over as a coup.
Interior Minister Francois Boko told Reuters soldiers sent to break up an opposition protest in Lome had fired warning shots to disperse a crowd which had surrounded their vehicle in the neighbourhood of Be, an opposition stronghold.
A Togolese delegation headed by Prime Minister Koffi Sama and including representatives of the army, parliament and the constitutional court, were in a closed-door meeting with Niger's President Tandja Mamadou, who currently chairs ECOWAS.