Togo

 

officially Togolese Republic, republic (2005 est. pop. 5,682,000), 21,622 sq mi (56,000 sq km), W Africa. It borders on the Gulf of Guinea in the south, on Ghana in the west, on Burkina Faso in the north, and on Benin in the east. Lomé is the country's capital and its largest city.

Land and People

From south to north, Togo is made up of five successive geographic regions. In the extreme south is a narrow sandy coastal strip (c.30 mi/50 km long), which is fringed by lagoons and creeks. A region (c.50 mi/80 km wide) of fertile clay soils lies north of the coast. The third region is made up of the clay-covered Mono Tableland, which reaches an altitude of c.1,500 ft (460 m) and is drained by the Mono River. North of the tableland is a mountainous area comprising the Togo and Atakora mts. and including Mt. Agou (c.3,940 ft/1,200 m), Togo's loftiest point. The fifth region, in the extreme north, is the rolling, sandstone Oti Plateau. The country is almost entirely covered with savanna, which has somewhat thicker vegetation in the south and thinner vegetation in the far north. In addition to the capital, other cities include Sokodé, Kpalimé, Anécho, and Atakpamé.

Togo is comprised of more than 35 ethnolinguistic groups, including the Ewe and the Mina in the south and various Voltaic-speaking peoples, the largest of which is the Kabre, in the north. Some 50% of the inhabitants follow traditional African religious beliefs, 30% are Christian (mostly Roman Catholic), and 20% Muslim. French is the country's official language and is used in business; Ewe and Mina are widely spoken in the south and Kabiye and Dagomba in the north.

Economy

Agriculture is Togo's chief economic activity, engaged in by about 65% of the workforce. The principal food crops are yams, cassava, corn, beans, rice, millet, and sorghum. The leading cash crops are cotton, coffee, and cocoa. Sheep, goats, hogs, and cattle are raised, and fishing is important. Large-scale mining of phosphate deposits at Akoumapé (in the southeast) began in 1963 and is now Togo's most important industry. Small quantities of chromite, bauxite, limestone, and iron ore are also mined, and marble is quarried. The country's other industries consist mainly of agricultural processing, handicrafts, and the manufacture of basic consumer goods. Attempts to implement economic reforms, begun in the late 20th cent. and including increasing privatization and foreign investment, have met with limited success.

A hydroelectric plant completed in 1988 on the Mono River was a collaborative effort between Togo and Benin. Togo's limited road and rail transportation facilities are concentrated in the central and southern parts of the country; Lomé is the main port. The cost of Togo's imports is usually much higher than its earnings from export sales. The main imports are machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, and petroleum products; the leading exports are cotton, phosphates, coffee, and cocoa. The principal trade partners are Ghana, Burkina Faso, France, and China.

Government

Togo is governed under the constitution of 1992. The president, who is head of state, is popularly elected to a five-year term; there are no term limits. The prime minister, who is head of government, is appointed by the president. The unicameral legislature consists of an 81-seat National Assembly whose members are popularly elected for five-year terms. Administratively, Togo is divided into five regions.

History

For the history of Togo before it became independent on Apr. 27, 1960, see Togoland. At the time of independence, Sylvanus Olympio was the country's prime minister, and when Togo adopted a presidential form of government in 1961, he became its first president. Until 1966 there were tense relations with neighboring Ghana, led by Kwame Nkrumah, who sought to merge Togo with Ghana—a plan that Togo strongly resisted. The government's inability to find employment for most of the 600 men who had served in the French army and then returned to Togo in the early 1960s led to a coup on Jan. 13, 1963, during which Olympio was assassinated.

Nicolas Grunitzky, Olympio's brother-in-law and an important political figure in the 1950s who had gone into exile (1958) in Dahomey (now Benin), returned to Togo and became president. Grunitzky unsuccessfully attempted to unify the country by including several political parties in his government. On Jan. 13, 1967, he was toppled in a bloodless army coup led by Lt. Col. Gnanssingbé Eyadèma, who became president in Apr., 1967, after an interlude of conciliar government. Eyadèma was confirmed overwhelmingly as president in elections in 1972. He proved to be intolerant of growing opposition, repressing dissent in trade unions and other areas of public life. Government efforts to exert increased control over the economy in the late 1970s included land-reform projects and state supervision of the textile trade. A new constitution that was approved in 1979 ended emergency military rule, proclaimed the Third Togolese Republic, and renewed Togo's status as a single-party state. Eyadèma was also elected to another term as president.

Civil wars in neighboring Ghana and Burkina Faso resulted in large refugee migration into Togo; in addition, the revolutionary governments in those nations isolated Togo by closing their borders. In 1986, Eyadèma survived a coup attempt and was elected to a third term as president. In 1991, a national conference was convened to force Eyadèma to resign, to set up a transitional government, and to schedule multiparty democratic elections. The Togolese army then began a violent campaign on Eyadèma's behalf to return him to power. In 1992, Eyadèma was given back much of his power and the transitional government was dissolved. Nonetheless, a new constitution approved that year succeeded in somewhat reducing presidential power.

In 1993, Eyadèma won reelection in a contest that was boycotted by the main opposition parties. As a result, economic sanctions were imposed by the European Union. He won again in 1998, and in 1999 his party swept parliamentary elections; once again, the elections were boycotted by the opposition. The 2002 parliamentary elections were also boycotted by the opposition, and were again swept by the government party. Also in 2002 the constitution was amended to permit the president to seek a third term, and in the presidential election in 2003 Eyadèma was returned to office. The opposition accused the government of electoral fraud; the most popular opposition leader was living in exile and barred from running.

In Feb., 2005, Eyadèma died. The army engineered the appointment of Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, Eyadèma's son, to the presidency, contrary to the constitution, which called for the speaker of parliament to succeed to the office. Parliament subsequently approved the move and amended the constitution to avoid a new election. These moves were protested internationally and sparked confrontations between Togolese demonstrators and police; Togo also was threatened with the loss of foreign aid. Under pressure Gnassingbé agreed at the end of the month to step down.

Abass Bonfoh was appointed interim president until the April presidential election, in which Gnassingbé was declared the winner. The election was denounced by the opposition as rigged, but other West African nations called on the two sides to compromise and form a national unity government. The electoral result sparked violence, in which several hundred died, between the opposition and the government's supporters and forces, and some 38,000 fled to neighboring Benin and Ghana, but Gnassingbé, strongly supported by the military, took office. The new government that was formed in June included some moderate opposition members but failed to be the broader unity government West African nations had encouraged, and the most powerful posts went to Gnassingbé's allies.

Negotiations in 2006 led to an agreement (August) that called for a government of national unity that included the opposition; in September, Yawovi Agboyibo, a human-rights activist, was named prime minister. In Oct., 2007, all political parties took part in the legislative elections, making them the first truly contested such elections in two decades. Observers said the elections were generally free and fair, but the governing party won an unexpectedly large numbers of seats (50) with not quite a third of the vote. leading to opposition charges of vote-counting irregularities.

Bibliography

See H. W. Debrunner, A Church between Colonial Powers: A Study of the Church in Togo (tr. 1965); S. Decalo, Historical Dictionary of Togo (2d ed. 1987).

République Togolaise Togolese Republic
Flag Coat of Arms
Motto "Travail, Liberté, Patrie"  (French) "Work, Liberty, Homeland"
Anthem Salut à toi, pays de nos aïeux  (French) "Hail to thee, land of our forefathers"
Capital (and largest city)		Lomé 6°7′N, 1°13′E
Official languages		French
Demonym		Togolese
Government		Republic
-	President	Faure Gnassingbe
-	Prime Minister	Yawovi Agboyibo
Independence
-	from France	April 27 1960
Area
-	Total	km² (125th)  sq mi
-	Water (%)	4.2
Population
-	July 2005 estimate	6.1 million (102nd1)
-	Density	108/km² (93rd2)  /sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2005 estimate
-	Total	$8.945 billion (144th1)
-	Per capita	$1,700 (193rd1)
HDI (2004)		0.495 (low) (147th)
Currency		CFA franc (XOF)
Time zone		GMT (UTC+0)
Internet TLD		.tg
Calling code		[[+228]]
1 Estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected. Rankings based on 2005 figures CIA World Factbook - Togo 2 Rankings based on 2005 figures (source unknown)

Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa bordering Ghana in the west, Benin in the east and Burkina Faso in the north. In the south, it has a short Gulf of Guinea coast, on which the capital Lomé is located.

History of Togo

Main article: History of Togo

Western history does not record what happened in Togo before the Portuguese arrived in the late fifteenth century. During the period from the eleventh century to the sixteenth century, various tribes entered the region from all directions: the Ewé from Nigeria and Benin; and the Mina and Guin from Ghana. Most settled in coastal areas. When the slave trade began in earnest in the sixteenth century, the Mina benefited the most. For the next two hundred years, the coastal region was a major raiding center for Europeans in search of slaves, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name "The Slave Coast."

In an 1884 treaty signed at Togoville, Germany declared a protectorate over a stretch of territory along the coast and gradually extended its control inland. This became the German colony Togoland in 1905. After the German defeat during World War I in August 1914 at the hands of British troops (coming from the Gold Coast) and the French troops (coming from Dahomey), Togoland became two League of Nations mandates, administered by the United Kingdom and France. After World War II, these mandates became UN Trust Territories. The residents of British Togoland voted to join the Gold Coast as part of the new independent nation of Ghana, and French Togoland became an autonomous republic within the French Union. Independence came in 1960 under Sylvanus Olympio. Sylvanus Olympio was assassinated in a military coup on January 13th, 1963 by a group of soldiers under the direction of Sergeant Etienne Eyadema Gnassingbe (December 26, 1937 – February 5, 2005). Opposition leader Nicolas Grunitzky (1913-1969) was appointed president by the "Insurrection Committee" headed by Emmanuel Bodjollé. However, on January 13, 1967 Eyadema Gnassingbe overthrew Grunitzky in a bloodless coup and assumed presidency from that date until his sudden death on Februray 5, 2005.

Eyadema Gnassingbe (many wrongly think Eyadema was his last name) died in early 2005 after thirty-eight years in power, as Africa's longest sitting dictator. The military's immediate but short-lived installation of his son, Faure Gnassingbe, as president provoked widespread international condemnation. However, surprisingly, some democratically elected African leaders, such as Adboulaye Wade (born May 29, 1926[2]) of Senegal and Olusegun Obasanjo (born circa March 5, 1937) of Nigeria, supported that move and created a rift within the African Union. Faure Gnassingbe stood down and called elections which he later won two months later. The opposition claimed that the election was fraudulent. The developments of 2005 led to renewed questions about a commitment to democracy made by Togo in 2004 in a bid to normalize ties with the EU, which cut off aid in 1993 over the country's human rights record. Moreover, up to 400 people were killed in the political violence surrounding the presidential poll, according to the UN. Around 40,000 Togolese fled to neighboring countries.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Togo

Togo is a small, thin sub-Saharan nation. It borders the Bight of Benin in the south; Ghana lies to the west; Benin to the east; and to the north Togo is bound by Burkina Faso.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Togo

Togo's small sub-Saharan economy is heavily dependent on both commercial and subsistence agriculture, which provides employment for 65% of the labor force. Cocoa, coffee, and cotton together generate about 30% of export earnings. Togo is self-sufficient in basic foodgoods when harvests are normal, with occasional regional supply difficulties. In the industrial sector, phosphate mining is by far the most important activity, although it has suffered from the collapse of world phosphate prices and increased foreign competition. Togo's GNI per capita is US $380 (World Bank, 2005).

Togo serves as a regional commercial and trade center. The government's decade-long effort, supported by the World Bank and the IMF, to implement economic reform measures, encourage foreign investment, and bring revenues in line with expenditures, has stalled. Political unrest, including private and public sector strikes throughout 1992 and 1993, jeopardized the reform program, shrank the tax base, and disrupted vital economic activity. The 12 January 1994 devaluation of the currency by 50% provided an important impetus to renewed structural adjustment; these efforts were facilitated by the end of strife in 1994 and a return to overt political calm. Progress depends on increased openness in government financial operations (to accommodate increased social service outlays) and possible downsizing of the military, on which the regime has depended to stay in place. Lack of aid, along with depressed cocoa prices, generated a 1% fall in GDP in 1998, with growth resuming in 1999. Assuming no deterioration of the political atmosphere, growth should rise to 5% a year in 2000-2001.

Religion

A plurality of the Togolese population (50%) adhere to indigenous animist beliefs [4]. Christianity is the second largest religious group, to which 29% of the country's population belong. The remaining 21% of Togolese follow Islam.

Politics

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Main article: Politics of Togo

Togo's transition to democracy is stalled. Its democratic institutions remain nascent and fragile. President Gnassingbé Eyadéma, who ruled Togo under a one-party system for nearly twenty-five of his thirty-seven years in power, died of a heart attack on February 5, 2005. Under the constitution, the speaker of parliament, Fambaré Ouattara Natchaba, should have become president, pending a new election. Natchaba was out of the country, returning on an Air France plane from Paris. The Togolese army closed the nation's borders, forcing the plane to land in nearby Benin. With an engineered power vacuum, the army announced that Eyadéma's son Faure Gnassingbé, also known as Faure Eyadéma, who had been the communications minister, would succeed him. The constitution of Togo declared that in the case of the president's death, the speaker of Parliament takes his place, and has sixty days to call new elections. However, on February 6th, Parliament retroactively changed the Constitution, declaring that Faure would hold office for the rest of his father's term, with elections deferred until 2008. The stated justification was that Natchaba was out of the country.^[1] . The government also moved to remove Natchaba as speaker ^[2] and replaced him with Faure Gnassingbé, who was sworn in on February 7, 2005, despite the international criticism of the succession. [5]

The African Union described the takeover as a military coup d'état. [6] International pressure came also from the United Nations. Within Togo, opposition to the takeover culminated in riots in which several hundred died. In the village of Aného reports of a general civilian uprising followed by a large scale massacre by government troops went largely unreported. In response, Gnassingbé agreed to hold elections and on February 25, Gnassingbé resigned as president, but soon afterwards accepted the nomination to run for the office in April. On April 24, 2005, Gnassingbé was elected president of Togo, receiving over 60% of the vote according to official results. However fraud was suspected as cause of his election, due to a lack of presence of the European Union or other such oversight. See the History section of this article for details. Parliament designated Deputy Speaker Bonfoh Abbass as interim president until the inauguration of the election winner.[7]

Current political situation

On May 3, 2005, Faure Gnassingbe was sworn in as the new president, garnering 60% of the vote according to official results. Discontent has continued however, with the opposition declaring the voting rigged, claiming the military stole ballot boxes from various polling stations in the South, as well as other election irregularities, such as telecommunication shutdown. [8] The European Union has suspended aid in support of the opposition claims, while the African Union and the United States have declared the vote "reasonably fair" and accepted the outcome. The Nigerian president and Chair of the AU, Olusẹgun Ọbasanjọ, has sought to negotiate between the incumbent government and the opposition to establish a coalition government, but rejected an AU Commission appointment of former Zambian president, Kenneth Kaunda, as special AU envoy to Togo ([9] and [10]). Later in June, President Gnassingbe named opposition leader Edem Kodjo as the prime Minister.

As of April 2006 reconciliation talks between the government and the opposition are in progress; said talks were suspended after Eyadema's death in 2005. In August the government and the opposition signed an accord providing for the participation of opposition parties in a transitional government.

Culture

See also: Music of Togo

Togo's culture reflects the influences of its thirty-seven ethnic groups, the largest and most influential of which are the Ewe, Mina, and Kabre.

French is the official language of Togo. The many indigenous African languages spoken by Togolese include: Gbe languages such as Ewe, Mina, and Aja; Kabiyé; and others.

Despite the influences of Christianity and Islam, over half of the people of Togo follow naive animistic practices and beliefs.

Ewe statuary is characterized by its famous statuettes which illustrate the worship of the twins, the ibéji. Sculptures and hunting trophies were used rather than the more ubiquitous African masks. The wood-carvers of Kloto are famous for their "chains of marriage": two characters are connected by rings drawn from only one piece of wood.

The dyed fabric batiks of the artisanal center of Kloto represent stylized and coloured scenes of ancient everyday life. The loincloths used in the ceremonies of the tisserands of Assahoun are famous. Works of the painter Sokey Edorh are inspired by the immense arid extents, swept by the harmattan, and where the laterite keeps the prints of the men and the animals. The plastics technician Paul Ahyi is internationally recognized today. He practises the "zota", a kind of pyroengraving, and his monumental achievements decorate Lome.

Sport

As in much of Africa, football is the most popular sporting pursuit. Until 2006, Togo was very much a minor force in world football, but like fellow West African nations such as Senegal, Nigeria and Cameroon before them, the Togolese national team finally qualified for the World Cup. Until his dismissal from the team over a long-standing bonus dispute[11], Emmanuel Adebayor was largely considered the side's star player. He currently plays for English Premiership club, Arsenal. Togo was knocked out of the tournament in the group stage after losing to South Korea, Switzerland and France. Photo of the team

Togo's 2006 World Cup appearance was marred by a dispute over financial bonuses, a situation that almost led to the team boycotting their match against Switzerland. Eventually, Togo did fulfil all three fixtures, failing to qualify for the second round of the competition. Over the following months, the stalemate has continued to mar Togolese football, and eventually resulted in the dismissal of strike pair Emmanuel Adebayor and Kader Cougbadja, and defender Nibombe Dare in March 2007, ostensibly for "indecent remarks concerning the FTF management"^[3].

After their outings as World Cup underdogs, Togo gained support throughout the world. For example, Togo has a 'Supporters Club' in Levenmouth in Scotland, whilst the Newry Togo Supporters Club has its own bar as a venue in Newry, Northern Ireland.

See also

Association Scoute du Togo Buranda  (cf. Yes Minister) Cokossian Monarchy Communications in Togo

Demographics of Togo Foreign relations of Togo Togo national football team Transport in Togo

Lists

• List of former German colonies
• List of Togo-related topics
• List of writers from Togo

References

1. ^ Japan Post, [1]
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ [3]

Bibliography

This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain.

• Schnee, Dr. Heinrich, (former Governor of German East Africa), German Colonization, Past and Future - The Truth about the German Colonies, George Allen & Unwin, London, 1926.
• Bullock, A.L.C., Germany's Colonial Demands, Oxford University Press, 1939.
• BBC News Country Profile - Togo

External links

Government

• (French) Republic of Togo official site
• (French) Web Radio Togo official Web Radio
• (French) National Assembly of Togo official site

Aid Work

• Apis-Togo.org - Association pour l'Alphabétisation et la Promotion des Infrastructures et de la Santé au Togo et en Afrique
• [12] - Synergie des Jeunes pour Demain, la plus grande association de volontariat jeune pour le developement.

News

• AllAfrica.com - Togo news headline links
• IFEX - Togo alerts, news articles and dossiers

Overviews

• BBC News Country Profile - Togo
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, Country Page - Togo
• CIA World Factbook - Togo
• Open Directory Project - Togo directory category
• US State Department - Togo includes Background Notes, Country Study and major reports

Sports

• Photo of the national football team

Tourism

• Togo travel guide from Wikitravel

Countries of West Africa
Benin · Burkina Faso · Cameroon · Côte d'Ivoire · Equatorial Guinea · Gabon · The Gambia · Ghana · Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Liberia · Mali · Niger · Nigeria · Republic of the Congo · Senegal · Sierra Leone · Togo

Countries of Africa

Sovereign states Algeria · Angola · Benin · Botswana · Burkina Faso · Burundi · Cameroon · Cape Verde · Central African Republic · Chad · Democratic Republic of the Congo · Republic of the Congo · Comoros · Côte d'Ivoire · Djibouti · Egypt1 · Equatorial Guinea · Eritrea · Ethiopia · Gabon · The Gambia · Ghana · Guinea-Bissau · Guinea · Kenya · Lesotho · Liberia · Libya · Madagascar · Malawi · Mali · Mauritania · Mauritius · Morocco · Mozambique · Namibia · Niger · Nigeria · Rwanda · Senegal · Seychelles · Sierra Leone · Somalia · South Africa · Sudan · Swaziland · São Tomé and Príncipe · Tanzania · Togo · Tunisia · Uganda · Zambia · Zimbabwe Dependencies  |  Unrecognized British Indian Ocean Territory (UK) · Mayotte (France) · Réunion (France) · St. Helena2 (UK)  |  Canary Islands (Spain) · Ceuta (Spain) · Madeira (Portugal) · Melilla (Spain) · Socotra (Yemen) · Puntland · Somaliland · Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic 1 Partly in Asia.  2 Includes the dependencies of Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha.

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