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History and Government
History: At the turn of the 15th century, the area that is now Togo was populated by the Kwa people and tribes from along the Volta river. Over the next 200 years, these were joined by Ewe people from Nigeria and the Ane from Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. During the 1700s, the coastal region was occupied by Danish colonists who controlled the slave trade in the region. By the late-19th century, the Danes had been replaced by Germans who established the protectorate of Togoland and used slave labour to develop agricultural plantations, although outlawing slavery in 1885. The administration was overthrown by a joint Anglo-French force early in World War I. Then, in 1922, the country was divided into a French-controlled eastern region and a British-occupied western sector, each of which was governed under a League of Nations mandate. After a UN-sponsored referendum in 1956, the British sector merged with the neighbouring colony of Gold Coast to form Ghana, while later in the year, the French part chose to become the autonomous Republic of Togo. It was granted full independence in 1960.
The civilian government that took power at this point lasted just seven years, before a military coup brought Lieutenant-Colonel Etienne Gnassingbe Eyadéma to power in January 1967. Eyadéma has remained in office ever since – affording him the distinction of being the world’s longest continuously serving head of state – with the support of the country’s sole political party, the Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais (RPT). Eyadéma’s authoritarian style of government spawned numerous opponents and several coup attempts were directed against him. Surprisingly then, Togo was initially in the vanguard of the democratic revolution which swept Africa during 1991. In August 1991, a national conference of the country’s major political forces was convened to chart the path to democratic government. The conference stripped Eyadéma of his executive powers (although he retained his position) and installed a transitional administration, the High Council of the Republic, led by Kokou Koffigoh. However, in late November 1991, the government made a serious tactical error by banning the RPT, Eyadéma’s political power base. Threatened with a complete loss of political power, the army mutinied, determined to bring Koffigoh down. The arrival of French paratroops in neighbouring Benin brought the violence to a halt. After negotiations between Eyadéma and Koffigoh, a compromise solution was reached, under which Koffigoh would remain in office at the head of a ‘government of national unity’ to oversee the transitional process.
During 1992, political turbulence continued in Togo. Multi-party elections were repeatedly postponed and it became evident that Eyadéma was determined to hold on to power, come what may. When the poll was eventually held in August 1993, several of the principal opposition parties boycotted it; those that did not were disqualified anyway. Despite intense international pressure, Eyadéma clung to power. The next two years were a period of great political tension, which was eventually defused when the combined opposition of the Comité d’Action pour le Renouveau (CAR) and the Union Togolaise pour la Démocratie (UTD) won the 1994 national assembly elections. Edem Kodjo was appointed prime minister by Eyadéma. At the most recent presidential election in June 1998, Eyadéma was convincingly re-elected, despite evidence of extensive fraud and intimidation of political opponents. By 2002, with his second and final term under the new 1993 constitution drawing to a close, Eyadéma began to exert pressure to allow him a third term, should he win the scheduled presidential election due in June 2003. The most recent national assembly elections were held in October 2002 – for the third time in succession, they were boycotted by all the main opposition parties, giving victory by default to the RPT. (This is exactly what had happened three years earlier, except, on that occasion, the result was nullified and the poll re-run. The 2002 effort was, in a sense, the re-run).
Government: The 1993 constitution allows for an executive president directly elected for a five-year term. The legislature is the unicameral Assemblée Nationale, whose 81 members are also directly elected for five years.
Copyright © 2003 Columbus Publishing Ltd.
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