Richard Attipoé

Richard Attipoe (20 April 1957 [ [http://www.etiame.com/etiame296.htm Profiles of Togolese government ministers] , etiame.com fr icon.] – 3 June 2007 [http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21847979-1702,00.html "Minister killed in plane crash"] , "The Australian", 4 June 2007 ] ) was the Togolese Minister of Youth and Sports from September 2006 [http://web.archive.org/web/20070225233735/http://www.republicoftogo.com/central.php?o=2&s=368&d=3&i=72 "Le Gouvernement togolais"] , Republicoftogo.com fr icon.] [http://www.grioo.com/info10678.html "Le ministre togolais des Sports Richard Atipoe sera inhumé samedi"] , Panapress (grioo.com), June 21, 2007 fr.] to June 2007. He was a member of the ruling Rally of the Togolese People (RPT).

Attipoe was a campaign director for RPT candidate Faure Gnassingbé in the presidential election held on April 24 2005. When he went to vote on election day, he was beaten up, along with two bodyguards; he said that supporters of the opposition were responsible for this assault.Michael Kamber, [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/25/international/africa/25togo.html "Voters Throng Polling Stations for Togo's Presidential Election"] , "The New York Times", April 25, 2005.]

Attipoe, a member of the RPT's Central Committee, [ [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=55009 "TOGO: Hardline Gnassingbe loyalists and opposition defectors dominate new government"] , IRIN, June 21, 2005.] was appointed as Minister of Youth and Sports in the government named on September 20 2006. He died in a Paramount Airlines helicopter crash on June 3 2007 at the Lungi International Airport near Freetown, Sierra Leone [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6715937.stm "Sierra Leone air crash kills 19"] , BBC News, June 4, 2007.] [http://www.republicoftogo.com/central.php?o=5&s=37&d=3&i=753 "Richard Attipoé a été inhumé à Lomé"] , republicoftogo.com, June 25, 2007 fr.] along with 21 other people. Attipoe was part of a Togolese delegation attending an African Nations Cup football qualifying match played in Freetown between Sierra Leone and Togo; after the match, they were flown to the airport, where the helicopter caught on fire and crashed as it attempted to land. Attipoe was buried in Lomé on June 23.