Dirty Combat by David Tomkins

Author:David Tomkins
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Mainstream
Published: 2011-03-23T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

A BETRAYAL

ON 2 SEPTEMBER 1979, ALMOST EXACTLY A YEAR AFTER MY RETURN from Togo, I received a telephone call from the Togolese Embassy in London. As far as I had been aware, Togo maintained only an honorary consulate in London. The call was from the ambassador, a Mr Yakoubou, who asked me to come to a meeting the next day. ‘It is very urgent,’ he said. ‘The president is very worried.’

I met Yakoubou at the embassy, which was in Knightsbridge, very close to Hyde Park. He introduced me to a Togolese minister, who dismissed the ambassador from the room so that he and I could talk alone. He muttered some excuse about how it would have violated Yakoubou’s diplomatic status to have been privy to the conversation.

The minister proceeded to tell me that Eyadéma was extremely anxious, so much so he had summoned the minister in the middle of the night. The president was in an agitated mood concerning Gilchrist Olympio, the son of Sylvanus Olympio, the man whom Eyadéma had overthrown. Olympio lived in Paris, where he was frequently on his soapbox stirring up anti-Eyadéma feeling. He had been sentenced to death in absentia in a Togolese treason trial a few weeks earlier. The minister stressed the urgency of the matter, telling me that while his official reason for visiting the UK was to offer his country’s condolences to Queen Elizabeth over the murder of Lord Mountbatten, the real reason he had come was to speak with me.

‘Olympio’s agenda is to create unrest and dissatisfaction among the Togolese at home and abroad. We cannot allow this to continue,’ he said. The minister’s background was probably in the legal profession. He chose his words with caution. ‘You are a friend of the president and you may be able to help redress this situation once and for all.’ He might not have said outright what he meant but his intention was perfectly clear. The words ‘once and for all’ seemed to echo around the room.

I used the analogy that the only way to prevent a poisonous snake biting was to cut off its head, which seemed to meet the requirements of the minister’s word game. ‘Your president’s concerns for the future are of great importance to me,’ I continued. ‘However, there are of course considerations as to what it is possible to undertake in Europe, as opposed to other parts of the world. The matter will need to be considered carefully.’

‘I understand entirely.’

My job was to find Olympio and place him under surveillance.

‘How much would such an operation cost?’ asked the minister.

‘The initial expenses would have to be sufficient to cover several people to travel to Paris for a few days, locate the subject and assess his movements. I think we should review the situation and then discuss a price.’

Olympio’s address was given to me and the ambassador was instructed to give me £3,000 for expenses.

While assassination in a small West African republic wouldn’t raise an eyebrow in the West,

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