Togo

Son takes control after president dies

The president of Togo, Africa’s longest-ruling leader, died after suffering a heart attack Saturday. Hours later, the military announced his son would take his place as head of state.

President Gnassingbe Eyadema, 69, suffered a heart attack early Saturday in his hometown of Piya in southeastern Togo and died on his way to Europe for treatment, officials said.

State TV broadcast images later showing the country’s top military brass, including army chief of defense staff Gen. Zakari Nandja, swearing an oath of allegiance to Faure Gnassingbe, Eyadema’s son, as “the acting president.”

Togo’s constitution calls for the speaker of parliament to succeed the president in the event of his death. By law, the parliament speaker must call national elections to choose a new president within 60 days.

Nandja, however, said the speaker of parliament, Fanbare Tchaba, was out of the country and the military had declared Eyadema’s son president to ensure stability.

London

G-7 agrees to debt relief for poorest nations

The world’s seven wealthiest nations said Saturday they were willing to take on up to 100 percent of the debt owed by some of the poorest countries. But they failed to agree on a British plan to boost international aid by $50 billion a year.

G-7 finance ministers said they would consider debt relief on a country-by-country basis and underlined that governments must show themselves accountable for how they would use money freed up by the relief for poverty reduction.

It was the firmest commitment the G-7 industrialized nations have made to alleviate the debt burden that cripples the Third World.

The G-7 comprises the United States, Britain, Canada, Italy, France, Germany and Japan.

United Nations

Oil-for-food probe includes Annan’s son

Investigators probing alleged corruption at the United Nations oil-for-food program are scrutinizing thousands of pages of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s documents, including e-mail and phone records, to determine whether he exerted influence in securing a contract for a Swiss company that employed his son.

Paul Volcker, the head of the independent investigation, confirmed the document search and said new information had led investigators to delay publishing their findings about Annan’s son Kojo, whose activities have embroiled the U.N. chief in the growing scandal.

Volcker’s Thursday report accused oil-for-food program director Benon Sevan of conflicts of interest for soliciting oil allocations from Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Sudan

Government won’t send war crimes suspects

The government will not send Sudanese citizens or officials suspected of committing war crimes in the western province of Darfur to any international court, Sudan’s vice president said Saturday.

Earlier this week, a report to the United Nations recommended 51 Sudanese — including high-ranking government officials, rebels and Arabs who served in the militia known as the Janjaweed — stand trial at the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges related to the two-year Darfur conflict.

The report by a U.N. commission also said government-backed militias were still involved in rape, mass killings and wanton destruction in Darfur, a region the size of France. The conflict has left at least 70,000 people dead and forced more than 2 million from their homes.