Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It is one of the least developed countries and extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its capital, Lomé, is located. It is a small, tropical country, which covers 57,000 square kilometres and has a population of approximately 8 million, and it has a width of less than 115 km (71 mi) between Ghana and its eastern neighbour Benin.
The history of Togo can be traced to archaeological finds which indicate that ancient local tribes were able to produce pottery and process tin. During the period from the 11th century to the 16th century, the Ewé, the Mina, the Gun, and various other tribes entered the region. Most of them settled in coastal areas. The Portuguese arrived in the late 15th century, followed by other European powers. Until the 19th century, the coastal region was a major slave trade centre, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name "The Slave Coast".
Politics of Togo takes place in a framework of a parlimentary republic, whereby the president is the head of state and the prime minister is head of government, who is appointed by the president with the parliament's approval. Executive power is exercised by the prime minister while the role of the president is largely ceremornial. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. After independence, the party system was dominated first by the authoritarian Rally for the Togolese People, and later by its successor party, Union for the Republic.
Gnassingbé Eyadéma was a Togolese military officer and politician who was the president of Togo from 1967 until his death in 2005, after which he was immediately succeeded by his son, Faure Gnassingbé.
Koffi Sama was the Prime Minister of Togo from 29 June 2002 to 9 June 2005.
Elections in Togo take place within the framework of a presidential system. Both the President and the National Assembly are directly elected by voters. Togo is a one party dominant state with the Union for the Republic in power.
Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé is a Togolese politician who has been the fourth president of Togo since 2005. Before assuming the presidency, he was appointed by his father, President Gnassingbé Eyadéma, as Minister of Equipment, Mines, Posts, and Telecommunications, serving from 2003 to 2005.
Édouard Kodjovi "Edem" Kodjo, was a Togolese politician and diplomat. He was Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity from 1978 to 1983; later, in Togo, he was a prominent opposition leader after the introduction of multi-party politics. He served as Prime Minister from 1994 to 1996 and again from 2005 to 2006. Kodjo was President of the Patriotic Pan-African Convergence (CPP). Kodjo died on April 11, 2020, in Paris.
Fambaré Ouattara Natchaba was a Togolese politician. He was the President of the National Assembly of Togo from September 2000 to February 2005. He was a prominent member of the ruling Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) and a member of the Pan-African Parliament representing Togo.
The Rally of the Togolese People was the ruling political party in Togo from 1969 to 2012. It was founded by President Gnassingbé Eyadéma and headed by his son, President Faure Gnassingbé, after the former's death in 2005. Faure Gnassingbé replaced the RPT with a new ruling party, the Union for the Republic (UNIR), in April 2012, dissolving the RPT.
Joseph Kokou Koffigoh is a Togolese politician, human rights activist, and a poet who served as Prime Minister of Togo from 27 August 1991 to 23 April 1994. Elected as prime minister by the opposition-dominated National Conference in 1991, Koffigoh was given full executive powers and tasked with overseeing a transition to multiparty elections. Beginning in December 1991, however, President Gnassingbé Eyadéma increasingly reasserted his authority at Koffigoh's expense. Although Koffigoh remained in office, the opposition eventually abandoned him, feeling he had become too cooperative with Eyadéma.
Messan Agbéyomé Gabriel Kodjo was a Togolese politician who served as Prime Minister of Togo from 29 August 2000 to 27 June 2002.
Yawovi Madji Agboyibo was a Togolese attorney and politician. He served as Prime Minister of Togo from September 2006 to December 2007 and was National President of the Action Committee for Renewal (CAR), an opposition political party, from 1991 to 2008. He was the Honorary President of the CAR.
Barry Moussa Barqué is a Togolese politician who served in the government of Togo under President Gnassingbé Eyadéma for most of the period from 1979 to 1999. He has been a Special Adviser to the President since 1999.
Pascal Akoussoulèlou Bodjona is a Togolese politician who served in the government of Togo as Minister of State for Territorial Administration, Decentralization, and Local Collectivities, as well as Government Spokesman, from 2007 to 2012. Previously he was Ambassador to the United States from 1998 to 2005 and Director of the Presidential Cabinet from 2005 to 2007.
Kpatcha Gnassingbé is a Togolese politician. He is a son of Gnassingbé Eyadéma, President of Togo from 1967 to 2005, and a brother of Faure Gnassingbé, who has been President since 2005. From 2005 to 2007, Kpatcha Gnassingbé was Minister of Defense. In April 2009, he was arrested on suspicion of plotting to overthrow his brother.
The 2005 Togo protests and riots were demonstrations and rioting against the results of the presidential election and Faure Gnassingbe's takeover of power. Protests began in February with protesters demanding new elections and the end of the Gnassingbe dynasty. Around 100 were killed before the elections, but after the 2005 Togolese presidential election around 500 protesters were killed by Togolese Armed Forces, assisted by military-trained Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) militias.
France–Togo relations are the diplomatic relations between the French Republic and the Togolese Republic. Both nations are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie and the United Nations.
The 2005 Togolese coup d'état was the unconstitutional seizure of power by the military in Togo through the appointment of Faure Gnassingbe, son of long-time President Gnassingbe Eyadema, who had ruled the country for 38 years after leading a coup d'état of his own in 1967. On February 5, 2005, President Eyadema suddenly died of a heart attack. Rather than adhering to the Togolese constitution which mandates the Speaker of Parliament act as interim leader until elections are held within 60 days, the Togolese military instead capitalized on the speaker's brief absence during a trip to announce that Eyadema's son Faure Gnassingbe would be sworn in as the new president in order to prevent a "power vacuum" from taking place within the country. In a special session of the National Assembly dominated by the Eyadema clan's ruling party - the Rally of the Togolese People (RTP) - Faure Gnassingbe was overwhelmingly approved as the Speaker of Parliament by a wide margin of 67 to 14. A constitutional amendment was also later passed allowing Faure Gnassingbe to serve his father's term that lasts until 2008.
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