|
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. GnanssingbE EyadEma, who became president in Apr., 1967, after an interlude of conciliar government. EyadEma 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. EyadEma 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, EyadEma survived a coup attempt and was elected to a third term as president. In 1991, a national conference was convened to force EyadEma to resign, to set up a transitional government, and to schedule multiparty democratic elections. The Togolese army then began a violent campaign on EyadEma's behalf to return him to power. In 1992, EyadEma 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, EyadEma won reelection in a contest that was boycotted by the main opposition parties. He won again in 1998, and in 1999 his party swept parliamentary elections; once again, the elections were boycotted by the opposition. In 2002 the constitution was amended to permit the president to seek a third term, and in the presidential election in 2003 EyadEma 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.
Sections in this article:
|
