 Following the death of President Eyadéma on February 5, 2005, Barqué expressed shock, saying that he had seemed healthy immediately beforehand.Eyadéma's son Fauré Gnassingbé succeeded him as President, but this succession was widely deemed unconstitutional.Barqué was included as part of a Togolese delegation that travelled to Niamey on February 12 in an attempt to explain and defend Gnassingbé's succession to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which had reacted to it with hostility.