| République Togolaise
Togolese Republic
|
|
|
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
-
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
-
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
-
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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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
Lists
References
- ^ Japan Post, [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [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
- 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
- Overviews
- Sports
- Tourism