Black Ottawa Scene congratulates the people of Togo on the occasion of their national day. Togo gained its independence from France on April 27, 1960.
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. The country extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its capital and largest city Lomé is located.] Togo covers 57,000 square kilometres (22,008 square miles), making it one of the smallest countries in Africa, with a population of approximately 8 million, as well as one of the narrowest countries in the world with a width of less than 115 km (71 mi) between Ghana and its eastern neighbor Benin, which is also quite narrow, except for its northern parts.
Independence to the present day (1960–present)
The Togolese Republic was proclaimed on 27 April 1960. In the first presidential elections in 1961, Sylvanus Olympio became the first president, gaining 100% of the vote in elections boycotted by the opposition. On 9 April 1961, the Constitution of the Togolese Republic was adopted, according to which the supreme legislative body was the National Assembly of Togo.[14]
In December 1961, leaders of opposition parties were arrested because they were accused of the preparation of an anti-government conspiracy. A decree was issued on the dissolution of the opposition parties. Olympio tried to reduce dependence on France by establishing cooperation with the United States, United Kingdom, and West Germany. He also rejected the efforts of French soldiers who were demobilized after the Algerian War and tried to get a position in the Togolese army. These factors eventually led to a military coup on 13 January 1963, during which he was assassinated by a group of soldiers under the direction of Sergeant Gnassingbé Eyadéma.[15] A state of emergency was declared in Togo.
The military handed over power to an interim government led by Nicolas Grunitzky. In May 1963, Grunitzky was elected President of the Republic. The new leadership pursued a policy of developing relations with France. His main aim was to dampen the divisions between north and south, promulgate a new constitution, and introduce a multiparty system.
Exactly four years later, on 13 January 1967, Eyadéma Gnassingbé overthrew Grunitzky in a bloodless coup and assumed the presidency.[16] He created the Rally of the Togolese People Party, banned activities of other political parties and introduced a one-party system in November 1969. He was reelected in 1979 and 1986. In 1983, the privatization program launched and in 1991 other political parties were allowed. In 1993, the EU froze the partnership, describing Eyadema’s re-election in 1993, 1998 and 2003, as a seizure of power. In April 2004, in Brussels, talks were held between the European Union and Togo on the resumption of cooperation.The 2017–18 Togolese protests against the 50-year-rule of the Gnassingbé family
Eyadéma Gnassingbé suddenly died on 5 February 2005, after 38 years in power, the longest rule of any dictator in Africa. The military’s immediate installation of his son, Faure Gnassingbé,[16] as president provoked widespread international condemnation, except from France. Some democratically elected African leaders such as Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria supported the move, thereby creating a rift within the African Union.[17]
Gnassingbé left power and held elections, which he won two months later. The opposition declared that the election results were fraudulent. The events of 2005 led to questions regarding the government’s commitment to democracy that had been made in an attempt to normalize relations with the EU, which cut off aid in 1993 due to questions about Togo’s human rights situation. In addition, up to 400 people were killed in the violence surrounding the presidential elections, according to the UN. Around 40,000 Togolese fled to neighboring countries. Gnassingbé was reelected in 2010 and 2015.
In late 2017, anti-government protests erupted in Togo, the biggest since those after the 2005 election. Protesters demanded the resignation of Gnassingbé, who is part of a family they alleged has been in power too long. The UN condemned the resulting crackdown by Togolese security forces, and Gambia’s foreign minister, Ousainou Darboe, had to issue a correction after saying that Gnassingbé should resign.[18]
In the February 2020 presidential elections, Faure Gnassingbé won his fourth presidential term in office as the president of Togo. According to the official result, he won with a margin of around 72% of the vote share. This enabled him to defeat his closest challenger, the former prime minister Agbeyome Kodjo who had 18%.[20] On May 4, 2020, Bitala Madjoulba, the commander of a Togolese military battalion, was found dead in his office. The day of Madjoulba’s death came right after the recently re-elected Faure Gnassingbé had his investiture. An investigation has been opened for this case and all individuals around his death are being questioned.
Source: Wikipedia