Togo groups call for sex strike

27 Aug 2012, 10:29 pm   -   Source: AAP
Women are being asked to withhold sex from their husbands or partners as of Monday, said Isabelle Ameganvi, leader of the women's wing of the group Let's Save Togo. (AAP)

Women are being asked to withhold sex from their husbands or partners as of Monday, said Isabelle Ameganvi, leader of the women's wing of the group Let's Save Togo. (AAP)

Social reform groups in Togo have called on the nation's women to hold a week-long sex strike to pressure President Faure Gnassingbe to resign.

A collective of social reform groups in Togo has called on women around the country to begin a week-long sex strike, as part of a campaign to demand the president's resignation.

The Let's Save Togo collective, which brings together 16 social reform groups and opposition movements, says withholding sex is a powerful weapon for bringing about change in the West African country, which has been led by President Faure Gnassingbe since 2005.

"We want all women whose husbands support the leadership to refuse sex until their voices are heard," 32-year-old Astou Yabi told DPA by telephone on Monday.

"Women don't have a lot of power in Togo, but everybody knows that men rely on us for certain things. This is a powerful way of expression," Yabi said.

According to a statement on Let's Save Togo's website, the coalition is protesting against recent electoral reforms that it says have made it easier for Gnassingbe's party to win seats in October's parliamentary vote.

"The Togolese people have finally decided to smash the vicious circle of contested elections, repressions and negotiations," the statement said.

Sex strikes have successfully been used in other parts of Africa in recent years. In 2009, a group of Kenyan women called on the wives of key government figures to withhold sex in order to bring about an end to political infighting.

And in 2003, Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee instigated a mass sex strike as part of an effort to call for an end to the 14-year civil war. She was later awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.

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