Togo Failed Coup Archives: Can you find a MST-13 Timer?


I found four videos related to the 23 September 1986 attempted coup in Togo on the French website INA.fr (Institut National des Archives).

So, let us take a good look at the material that was seized from the rebels.

Here is a pic from one of these INA videos. [1]

WeaponsINA

I will now compare this with the pictures that were taken by Sherrow and his colleagues during their visit to Lomé.

I will start with the material laying on the table at the right of this picture and I will move anti-clockwise.

DE33-P31_33

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DM168-P30

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DM168-P32

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DM168-P33

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DM168-P34

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DM168-P35

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DE33-P31_31

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DM168-P42

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DE33-P52

The MST-13 Timer allegedly brought back from Togo by Richard Sherrow

Comments

Obviously, the  comparison between the INA video and the pictures taken by Sherrow and his colleagues is excellent.

HOWEVER:

1) There is no evidence of two MST-13 Timers among the items seized from the rebels.

2) There is not a single photo of 2 MST-13 timers next to each other.

3) There is not a single picture of the MST-13 Timer with a background that locates it in Lomé 1986. (Not a single picture taken in the hut with the rest of the material.)

Reference

[1] Le Togo : un mois après le coup d’état manqué. INA.fr

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1 Response to Togo Failed Coup Archives: Can you find a MST-13 Timer?

  1. Craig says:

    Issues that seem contradictory;

    Casey stated there was 1 timer.
    Owen stated he only seen 1 but not initially seen it in the hut.
    Sherrow stated there was 2.
    Struggling to understand why three professional investigators who have specifically been sent to investigate matters, who are wandering around a hut and two people say 1 timer and one person says 2.
    And by all accounts everyone present took a great interest in the timer[s].

    Owen transcript…………..

    Q And what was that?
    A It was a timing device.
    Q How many timing devices were you aware
    of seeing?
    A I remember seeing one.
    Q Thank you. What was done with the
    timing device that you are speaking of?
    A I was asked to photograph it.
    Q Yes.
    A I took a series of photographs. And the
    last I saw of it, it was back in the hut.
    Q The last you saw of it was what, sorry?
    A Was back in the hut.

    CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. BURNS:
    Q Just one matter, please, Mr. Owen. Did
    you go to the — I think it was a tent or a hut in Lome
    in company with Mr. Sherrow?
    A Yes, I did.
    Q And you’ve told us that the photographs
    you took were taken in Lome or in Togo?
    A That’s correct.
    Q Is that in the tent or somewhere else?

    A It was right outside the hut. There was
    a tree — a table placed under a shade tree.

    Q Okay. And did you examine all the
    ordnance that was there?
    A All the weapon ordnance, the firearm
    ordnance.
    Q Did you have a look also at the — where
    the timer was situated?

    A I did not see the timer until it was
    brought to me outside the hut, when I was photographing
    things.

    Q And somebody asked you to photograph it?
    A Yes.
    Q Who was that?
    A It would have either been Mr. Sherrow or
    the security officer from the U.S. Embassy in Lome.
    Q Okay. Thank you very much indeed.

    Some issues, Sherrow stated he was taking photographs but Owen seems to be state that he was taking photographs and asked to take photographs, somewhat appointed to take the photographs.

    Why move items from the already laid out tables?

    Having looked at the posted photographs and the on-line videos of the hut, it does appear at the front of the hut to be a very open area.
    Owen is fairly clear that for photography, items were taken from the hut to a table under a shade tree.
    The hut does appear to have a significant thatched roof overhang which could be the more logical place to position a table, not walk from the hut to a shade tree.

    All this being noted, at least some of the Lome photographs of the timer should indicate being taken in an external bright environment but also with characteristics of being in the shade of a tree.

    Like

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