Togo

République Togolaise Togolese Republic
Coat of Arms of Togo 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
Government	Republic
- President	Faure Gnassingbe
- Prime Minister	Yawovi Agboyibo
Independence
- from France	April 27 1960
Area
- Total	56,785 km² (125th) 21,925 sq mi
- Water (%)	4.2
Population
- July 2005 estimate	6.1 million
- Density	108/km² 280/sq mi
GDP (PPP)	2005 estimate
- Total	$8.945 billion
- Per capita	$1,700
HDI  (2004)	0.495 (low)
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, was once part of the area known as the "Slave Coast" in the seventeenth century. It passed from German control at the start of World War I and was split between France and Britain. Seven years after independence, Lt. Col. Gnassingbe Eyadema seized power and held it for thirty-eight years, making him Africa's longest sitting dictator until he died in 2005. His regime was marked by torture, assassinations, and abuses of civil liberties and human rights. His death resulted in a political crisis.

Geography

Satellite image of Togo, generated from raster graphics data supplied by The Map Library

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. In the south, it has a short Gulf of Guinea coast, on which the capital Lomé is located. It stretches inland for 360 miles but is only 31 miles wide at the coast and 100 miles at its widest point.

In the north, the land is characterized by a gently rolling savanna. The center of the country is hilly. The southern plateau reaches a coastal plain with extensive lagoons and marshes. The land area is 21,925 square miles (56,785 km²), with an average population density of 253 people per square mile (98 people per square kilometer).

The climate is warm and humid on the coast, but drier and slightly cooler in the north. Lake Togo is located in the central coast region.

History

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 World War I, the colony 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. Olympio was murdered by Lt. Col. Gnassingbe Eyadema, who usurped power on January 13, 1967.

Eyadema 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. Gnassingbe stood down and called elections that he 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 four hundred people were killed in the political violence surrounding the presidential poll, according to the UN. Around forty thousand Togolese fled to neighboring countries.

Economy

Togo's small sub-Saharan economy is heavily dependent on both commercial and subsistence agriculture, which provides employment for 75 percent of the labor force. Cocoa, coffee, and cotton together generate about 40 percent 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 is the world's fifth largest exporter of calcium phosphate.

Togo's GNI per capita is US $380 (World Bank, 2005). As pre capita income shrank, the informal — and illegal — economy emerged, including money laundering, human trafficking, trade in illegal weapons and drugs, and smuggling. Togo is considered a major drug trafficking hub.

Togo serves as a regional commercial and trade center. However, 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 jeopardized the reform program, shrank the tax base, and disrupted vital economic activity. 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, has caused GDP to drop.

Politics

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 6, 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. [3]

The African Union described the takeover as a military coup d'état. [4] 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.[5]

Current political situation

On May 3, 2005, Faure Gnassingbe was sworn in as the new president, garnering 60 percent 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. [6] 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 former Nigerian president and Chair of the AU, Olusẹgun Ọbasanjọ, 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 ([7] and [8]). 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.

Demographics

Religion

A majority of the Togolese population (70 percent) adhere to indigenous animist beliefs. Christianity is the second largest religious group (20 percent). The remaining 10 percent of Togolese follow Islam.

Culture

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. The coastal Ewe receive more education and in general dominate Togolese culture. Ewe statuary is characterized by statuettes that 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 colored 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, where the laterite keeps the prints of men and animals. The plastics technician Paul Ahyi is internationally recognized. He practises "zota," a kind of pyroengraving, and his monumental achievements decorate Lome.

French is the official language. The many indigenous 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 native animistic practices and beliefs.

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. After their outing as World Cup underdogs, Togo gained support throughout the world. Photo of the team

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• 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

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

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 · Spain² · Sudan · Swaziland · São Tomé and Príncipe · Tanzania · Togo · Tunisia · Uganda · Zambia · Zimbabwe

Dependencies  |  Unrecognized
British Indian Ocean Territory (UK) · French Southern and Antarctic Lands (France) · Mayotte (France) · Réunion (France) · St. Helena³ (UK)  |  Puntland · Somaliland · Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic

¹ Partly in Asia.  ² Mostly in Europe.  ³ Includes the dependencies of Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha.

Template:Former German colonies

Member states of the African Union

Algeria · Angola · Benin · Botswana · Burkina Faso · Burundi · Cameroon · Cape Verde · Central African Republic · Chad · Comoros · Democratic Republic of the Congo · Republic of the Congo · Côte d'Ivoire · Djibouti · Egypt · Eritrea · Ethiopia · Equatorial Guinea · Gabon · The Gambia · Ghana · Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Kenya · Lesotho · Liberia · Libya · Madagascar · Malawi · Mali · Mauritania · Mauritius · Mozambique · Namibia · Niger · Nigeria · Rwanda · São Tomé and Príncipe · Senegal · Seychelles · Sierra Leone · Somalia · South Africa · Sudan · Swaziland · Tanzania · Togo · Tunisia · Uganda · Western Sahara (SADR) · Zambia · Zimbabwe

Niger-Congo-speaking nations

Kordofanian

 Sudan

Mande

Gambia  Guinea

Guinea-Bissau  Mali

Mauritania  Senegal

Sierra Leone

Atlantic-Congo

Atlantic  Benin  Burkina Faso  Cameroon  CAR Ijoid  Nigeria

Chad  Côte d'Ivoire  Gambia  Guinea Dogon  Mali

Guinea-Bissau  Liberia  Mali

Mauritania  Niger  Senegal

Sierra Leone  Sudan  Togo

Volta-Congo

Senufo  Benin  Côte d'Ivoire  Mali

Gur  Benin  Burkina Faso  Côte d'Ivoire  Ghana  Mali  Nigeria  Togo

Adamawa-Ubangi  Cameroon  CAR  Chad  Nigeria

Kru  Burkina Faso  Côte d'Ivoire  Liberia

Kwa  Benin  Côte d'Ivoire  Ghana  Nigeria  Togo

Benue-Congo

Bantu  Angola  Botswana  Burundi  Cameroon  DRC Yoruba and Igbo  Nigeria

Rep. of the Congo  Equatorial Guinea  Gabon  Kenya

Nigeria  Malawi  Mozambique  Namibia

Rwanda  Somalia  South Africa  Swaziland

Tanzania  Uganda  Zambia  Zimbabwe

CAR = Central African Republic DRC = Democratic Republic of the Congo

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