The human rights organisation Amnesty International has launched a blistering account of extra judicial killings by Togo's security forces over the past eight years.

It comes in response to an earlier announcement by the Togolese government that it intends to sue the human rights lobby group for slander and libel.

Amnesty International has reiterated its allegations of extra-judicial killings

The reaction of most countries to reports by Amnesty International of alleged human rights abuses, is either to keep quiet or to issue blanket denials.

Togo's government, led by the longest serving president in Africa, has tried this tactic. But it has also gone on the offensive, taking the highly unusual step of employing a top French lawyer to sue Amnesty over allegations that hundreds of people were killed in a wave of repression by the security forces during last year's elections.

Now Amnesty has gone on the counter-offensive against the threat to sue, saying the plan confirms that the regime of President Gnassingbe Eyadema appears unwilling to prosecute people for odious crimes including torture and extra-judicial killings.

'Hundreds killed'

In its report released on Tuesday, Amnesty does not go into further details about last year's alleged extra-judicial executions. It merely re-states that hundreds of people were killed by the security forces during this period.

The Togolese government appears to think that it can plausibly deny these particular killings - hence the threat to sue the human rights organisation.

But Amnesty also has a long and detailed list of other human rights abuses allegedly committed by the regime since 1991. This list includes the killing of almost 150 people by the security forces.