LOME, Togo (AP) – Togo’s parliament hastily amended the constitution Sunday to put a legal veneer on the military’s appointment of 39-year-old Faure Gnassingbe to replace his deceased father as president, voiding the need for new elections until 2008.

The military, within hours of the announcement of Gnassingbe Eyadema’s death on Saturday, named his son president, contravening the country’s constitution that called for the speaker of parliament to succeed the head of state until elections could be held in 60 days.

The extraordinary session of the 81-member national assembly, dominated by Eyadema’s ruling Togo People’s Rally party, overwhelmingly approved Gnassingbe as speaker of parliament. It then passed a constitutional amendment allowing him to fulfill his father’s term, which expires in 2008.

The African Union, trying to put decades of coups on the continent behind it, condemned the army appointment.

“The constitutional order must be re-established so that power can be held by the president of the national assembly,” said Adam Thiam, spokesman for African Union chairman Alpha Oumar Konare. “This administration will not be recognized because it comes from a coup d’etat.”

France, Togo’s colonial ruler until 1960, put its troops in the region on alert in case they are needed to protect 2,500 citizens in the West African nation of 5.5 million.

French President Jacques Chirac “made it known that the time of military coups d’etat is finished in Africa,” said his defense minister, Michele Alliot-Marie.

Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled for 38 years – longer than any other leader except Cuba’s Fidel Castro, suffered a heart attack Saturday and reportedly died as he was being rushed to Europe for treatment.

He was 69.

The army move and the parliament’s endorsement reflected a desire by Eyadema’s minority Kabye ethnic group to hold onto power. The Kabye dominate army ranks, as well as the ruling party.

Before being declared president Saturday, Gnassingbe was a communications minister and a member of parliament for Blitta, in central Togo. He was present during Sunday’s session. Family names often are reversed in Africa.

Had the army not stepped in, the interim presidency would have legally gone to Fanbare Ouattara Natchaba, the speaker of parliament who was in Europe when Eyadema died.

Hurrying back to Africa, Natchaba was forced to return to Benin, instead of Togo, because authorities sealed his country’s borders as a security measure. Officials said he would now become a regular parliament member.

The army on Saturday justified its endorsement of Eyadema’s son as president, claiming that waiting until Natchaba returned would have risked instability.

Reached earlier by phone at a hotel in Benin’s main city, Cotonou, Natchaba told The Associated Press on Sunday, “I don’t wish to give any interviews.”