Togo Women Vow Sex Strike to Oust President

Women in the civil rights group "Let's Save Togo" said they will have a week-long sex strike to demand the resignation of President Faure Gnassingbe. The plan for women to withhold sex from their husbands for a week will start tomorrow, said Isabelle Ameganvi, leader of the group's women's wing. She said the strike will urge Togo's men to take action against Gnassingbe. Ameganvi, a lawyer, said her group is following the example of Liberia's women who used a sex strike in 2003 to campaign for peace.

"We have many means to oblige men to understand what women want in Togo," said Ameganvi. "If men refuse to hear our cries we will hold other demos that will be more powerful than a sex strike," Ameganvi said during a demonstration yesterday of several thousand in the capital city. The rally was organized by a coalition which is protesting recent electoral reforms which they say will make it easier for Gnassingbe to win reelection in the polls set for October. (More Africa stories.)