Togo Timeline
Tuesday 16 January 2007, by togofocus
15th-18th Centuries - Ewe clans from Nigeria and Ane from Ghana and Ivory Coast settled in region already occupied by Kwa and Voltaic peoples. The coastal area, a major slave-raiding centre ("The Slave Coast"), was visited by Portuguese and Danes explorers and traders.
1894 – The German protectorate of Togoland established, forced labour used to develop plantations.
1914 – A joint Anglo-French force seized Togoland early in World War I.
1922 - League of Nations issued mandates to Britain to administer the western part, and to France to rule the eastern area of Togoland.
1956 - By statute in 1956, French Togo became an autonomous republic within the French union, while retaining its UN trusteeship status. In 1957, after an UN-sponsored referendum, the British sector merged with the neighbouring colony of Gold Coast to form Ghana.
1960 - In a smooth transition, Togo became fully independent on April 27, 1960, with Sylvanus Olympio as first president.
1963 - On January 13, 1963, President S. Olympio was assassinated by former non-commissioned officers (including Sgt. Etienne Gnassingbe alias "Eyadema") who had been discharged from the French colonial army and were allegedly hired by Paris for the killing. Nicolas Grunitzky, a long-time favourite of Paris, was elected president; his power became insecure in the next few years.
1967 - Lt. Col. Etienne Gnassingbe (later Gen. Gnassingbe Eyadema) ousted President Grunitzky in a bloodless coup. Political parties were banned, and all constitutional processes were suspended.
1969 - A single national political party, the RPT, was created, and Eyadema was elected party president on November 29, 1969. In 1972, a national referendum, in which Eyadema ran unopposed, confirmed his role as the country’s president.
1974 - Phosphate industry nationalised.
1977 - In January, the Beninese regime narrowly escaped a coup by mercenaries. It accused France, Togo, Gabon and Ivory Coast. In turn, in October, the Togolese authorities alleged that they foiled a mercenary attack on Lome.
1979 - Eyadema, standing as sole candidate, was elected as President with 99.97% of the vote; a Constitution was adopted; and members were elected for a national assembly to serve as a consultative body.
1986 - Following an alleged coup attempt on Sept. 23, 1986, French and Zairian paratroopers came to Government’s assistance. Togo accused Ghana and Burkina Faso of involvement, and shut the frontier with Ghana until 1987. On October 15, 1987, Burkina Faso’s President Thomas Sankara was assassinated in a coup that was allegedly sponsored by Togo, Ivory Coast and France.
1986 - In December 1986, Eyadema was re-elected to a third consecutive 7-year term with 99.5% of the vote.
1990 - From late 1990, Togo was affected by the winds of democratic change from the East.
1991 - Months of brutal repression which caused tens of dead, and severe harassment could not prevent the opening of a sovereign "National Conference" in July 1991: a 1-year transitional regime was set up and President Eyadema’s powers were limited.
1991 to
1992 - Eyadema resorted to institutional paralysis and political violence for destabilising the democratic transition and gaining major powers back:
On December 3, 1991, following a deadly attack, pro-Eyadema soldiers captured the Prime Minister and forced him to form a new cabinet to include the President’s party.
On May 5, 1992, opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio, son of slain former President Sylvanus Olympio, was ambushed and seriously wounded by soldiers, including one of Eyadema’s sons.
On July 29, 1992, a few days after being shot by a soldier in the street, MP Tavio Amorin died.
On August 19, 1992, presidential and opposition representatives signed a new political agreement to Eyadema’s advantage; the accord was then ratified by the interim Parliament.
On September 27, 1992, the public overwhelmingly approved a new, democratic Constitution.
In October 1992, pro-Eyadema soldiers held the interim legislature hostage for 24 hours, which put an end to the institution.
On November 16, 1992, as a protest, opposition parties and labour unions declared a general strike (the general strike largely shut down Lome for nearly 9 months and severely affected the economy).
1993 - In January 1993, President Eyadema declared the democratic transition at an end. This set off public demonstrations. On January 19, while the French and German Co-operation ministers were visiting Lome, the army fired on peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators, killing tens. On January 30, the military went on an 8-hour rampage throughout Lome, firing indiscriminately and killing hundreds. Following the incident, some 350,000 people fled Lome for Benin, Ghana, or the interior of the country. This caused major partners (incl. EU, France, Germany, USA) to suspend aid.
On March 25, 1993, exiled dissident commandos attacked Lome’s main military camp. They inflicted significant casualties, however, which set off lethal reprisals by the military against tens of soldiers thought to be opposition supporters.
On July 11, 1993, the presidential faction and the opposition signed the Ouagadougou agreement setting forth conditions for upcoming presidential and legislative elections.
On August 25, 1993, presidential elections took place, but were boycotted by the opposition because of their leader Gilchrist Olympio being excluded and of rightful concerns about fraud. President Eyadema won the elections by a 96.42% vote against token opposition, while only one third of voters went to the polls.
1994 - In January 1994, exiled dissidents launched a new commando attack on military sites in Lome. Subsequent reaction by the Togolese army resulted in hundreds of deaths, mostly civilian.
On February 6, 1994, the Government went ahead with legislative elections. Main opposition party UFC boycotted. On February 13, newly elected opposition MP Gaston Edeh and two party fellows were abducted by soldiers, detained at the Presidential Palace, tortured and then killed. Following the vote, Eyadema’s RPT party opted to form a majority with turncoat opposition party UTD led by Edem Kodjo, who was appointed Prime Minister. The latter was to fail in his assigned mission to have main donors resume assistance to Togo.
1996 - On March 27, 1996, a German diplomat, Thomas Rupprecht, was shot dead in the street in Lome by the Togolese security forces.
On June 28, 1996, after successfully "suborning" a few opposition MPs, Éyadéma’s RPT party won a majority position in the National Assembly. On August 19, 1996, Prime Minister Edem Kodjo resigned. So, President Eyadema re-emerged with a sure grip on all aspects of power. In such a context, main external partners were still opposed to lifting sanctions against Togo.
1998 – On June 21, 1998, the presidential elections resulted in massive electoral fraud. When the vote count pointed to a victory for the President’s rival, UFC leader Gilchrist Olympio, the authorities suspended the electoral process. So, the army seized the ballot boxes, the Chairwoman of the National Electoral Commission resigned in a conniving move and was replaced by the Minister of Interior who proclaimed Eyadema the winner with 52% of the vote. The EU observer team condemned the conduct of the electoral process and were forced to leave the country following harassment by the Togolese authorities. In response, the EU re-affirmed their suspension of aid. According to Amnesty International, hundreds of oppositionists were arrested and summarily executed by the army.
1999 – On March 21, 1999, legislative elections were held and the ruling RPT party won 79 of the 81 seats in the National Assembly. The vote was affected by boycott by the opposition, procedural problems and significant fraud, particularly misrepresentation of voter turnout.
In July 1999, under the auspices of international mediators, the Government and the opposition signed the "Lome Framework Agreement". The text included a pledge by President Eyadema to respect the Constitution, not to seek another term as president after the then-current one expired in 2003, to dissolve the National Assembly in March 2000 and to hold new legislative elections, which would be supervised by an Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) and would use the single-ballot method to protect against some of the abuses of past elections. [Ultimately, the March 2000 date passed without any presidential action, and new legislative elections were rescheduled for October 2001, before being postponed again until March 2002 due to lack of preparation, although the EU and UN offered assistance.]
2000 - In March 2000, a UN report stated that Gnassingbe Eyadema helped the Angolan rebel group UNITA get arms in exchange for diamonds.
In June 2000, a UN-OAU commission begins inquiry into Amnesty International’s allegations that the army summarily executed hundreds of people in the context of the 1998 presidential elections.
2001 - In February 2001, the UN-OAU commission of inquiry concluded there had been systematic violations of human rights after the 1998 presidential election and confirmed the substance of Amnesty International’s allegations.
In August 2001, opposition leader Yawovi Agboyibo was jailed for six months for criticising Prime Minister K. Agbeyome. Harassment of opposition supporters and media continued unabated.
2002 - From February through May 2002, the Government amended the Electoral Code without consultation with the opposition (which contravened the spirit of the Lome Framework Agreement), abolished the Independent National Electoral Commission for inability to function, and refused to accept 3 of the 4 EU technical assistants. Also, problems arose over voter registration cards. Frustrated by the lack of progress, the EU withdrew their financial support for the electoral process.
In June, President Eyadema sacked his Prime Minister and long-standing ally, Kodjo Agbeyome. After fleeing the country, the latter lambasted the President and accused his aides of corruption and human rights abuses.
In October 2002, the ruling party won more than two-thirds of the seats in the National Assembly following the parliamentary elections, as a result of the boycott by genuine opposition parties. Afterwards, the Government used the rubber-stamp parliament to amend Togo’s Constitution, allowing President Eyadema to run for an "unlimited" number of terms. A further amendment stated that candidates must reside in the country for at least 12 months before an election, a provision that barred the participation in the upcoming presidential election of opposition leader, Gilchrist Olympio, who had been in exile since 1992 for security reasons.
2003 - On June 1, 2003, presidential elections were held. Eyadema was declared victor with 57% of the vote. The opposition claimed that UFC’s candidate, Emmanuel Bob-Akitani, was the victor, whereas independent commentators denounced widespread vote rigging (including ballot box stuffing).
In July, a Government of unity was announced but genuine opposition parties were not included.
2004 - On April 14, 2004, the Government signed an agreement with the European Union that included 22 commitments that the Government must honour as a precondition for resumption of EU aid, which was frozen in 1993 over violence and democratic shortcomings. Among the most important of these commitments were a constructive national dialogue with the traditional opposition parties, and free and democratic legislative elections. The consultation period formally concluded in November 2004. The EU was to keep monitoring the situation in Togo closely over a 24-month period, to ensure it continues on the path towards democracy.
In November 2004, the European Union partially resumed assistance.
2005 - On February 5, 2005, President Gnassingbe Eyadema died, aged 69. After closing the borders and preventing the Chairman of the National Assembly from becoming the interim President as per the Constitution, the military leadership hastily appointed late ruler’s son Faure Gnassingbe as President in an unconstitutional move. The coup caused resolute international condemnation and popular contesting. But France and Togo’s three immediate neighbours (Ghana, Benin and Burkina Faso) refrained from asking "Gnassingbe Junr." publicly to stand down.
On February 7, French President Jacques Chirac mourned Eyadema as an "ally of France" and "a personal friend".
On February 24, 2005, Faure Gnassingbe stepped down and agreed to hold presidential elections. However, he apparently retained real power as he continued to use the offices of the President, while the interim President operated from the National Assembly. The formal decision to hold the election was taken on March 3, giving six weeks only to prepare for the poll. The EU declined to send observers for monitoring, due to the too-short delay.
In March and April 2005, in the run-up to the elections, the coalition of opposition parties designated a single candidate, and repeatedly called the mediating African organizations (African Union—AU and ECOWAS) to intervene for postponement of the poll so as to remedy major irregularities on electoral rolls and issuance of registration cards. Both the AU and ECOWAS ignored the call, pointing to the necessity to hold the elections within the 60 days provided for by the law.
On April 22, i.e. two days before the vote, Minister of Interior Francois Boko, a veteran supporter of Eyadema’s regime, vainly made a last minute bid to suspend the " suicidal electoral process ", for fear that the process underway could plunge the nation into a bloody conflict, but ECOWAS’ chairman kept to his line and denounced the Minister as " irresponsible ". He was sacked and had to seek refuge in the German embassy.
On April 24, 2005, the presidential elections were deeply flawed, with widespread acts of violence and vote tampering, including stuffing of ballot boxes. From the very closure of voting centres, young opposition supporters took to the streets. Armed men in pickup trucks took away computers from the opposition’s results compilation centre. The Government maintained borders closed, shut down telecom networks and independent radio & TV stations, and pressed alien reporters to leave the country. Jointly with pro-government militiamen, the army carried out heavy-hand and indiscriminate repression for 72 hours. This as well as a subsequent campaign of terror (including selective, subtle and nightly killings, abductions, or rapes) caused more than 37,000 Togolese to flee relentlessly to neighbouring Benin and Ghana from end of April through end of June 2005. The authorities repeatedly alleged that the refugees were driven abroad by economic reasons or because they were vandals fearful of arrest.
On April 26, Faure Gnassingbe was declared the winner with 60%. The day after, opposition candidate, Emmanuel Bob-Akitani, declared himself President. Both France and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) described the vote as basically fair despite isolated problems, while the United States expressed reservations on the official result, and both Canada and the European Parliament denounced the process on the ground of major irregularities.
On April 27, in a confidential briefing note —that was disclosed on the Web and subsequently authenticated, the European Union Delegation in Lome estimated that no less than 33% of voter names on the rolls were false. Moreover, they underlined that the 150 observers sent in by the ECOWAS " were deployed at the last moment on Saturday 23 April ", that " the ECOWAS mission did not involve two key steps: the revising of the electoral rolls and the count; operations during which there were many irregularities " and that " observation by diplomatic missions....on voting day highlighted the lack of reliability of the electoral rolls, an apparently widespread system of fake pro-Gnassingbe votes and numerous cases of the military snatching ballot-boxes ahead of the count ".
On May 13, 2005, the Togolese League for Human Rights (LTDH) reported a toll of 811 dead and 4,508 injured, mainly as a result of military repression during the electoral process. As a matter of interest, two days before the poll, former Minister of Interior had warned: " We have reliable information that there is a very real risk of a slide into bloodshed as a result of this poll, whose outcome is uncertain ".
On May 19, during a summit on Togo, West African heads of state called "President" Faure Gnassingbe and opposition to compromise and form a government of national unity. The talks ended in failure: " The African leaders want us to quickly do a deal with Gnassingbe, without considering the merit of our complaints that his so-called election was a fraud ," an opposition leader stated.
On June 6, during a mediation visit in Lome, the Nigerian president and head of the African Union, Olusegun Obasanjo, publicly rebuked an AU Commission decision to appoint former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda as special AU envoy to resolve the political stand-off in Togo.
On June 8, 2005, Faure Gnassingbe rejected the opposition’s demands prior to joining government of unity, and the day after he appointed Edem Kodjo as Prime Minister. The latter had been a long-standing pillar of Gnassingbe’s RPT party, then a moderate oppositionist in the early 1990s, before stating in 1994 that he was a "turning point" between the RPT and the opposition.
On June 10, 2005, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights mandated a commission of inquiry on Togo, which is currently carrying out investigations.
On June 21, 2005 Prime Minister Kodjo unveiled his cabinet dominated by hardline Gnassingbe loyalists (including his own brother, Kpatcha Gnassingbe, as Defence Minister) and opposition defectors.
The developments of 2005 have led to renewed questions about the commitment to democracy expressed by Togo in 2004 in a bid to normalise ties with the EU, which cut off aid in 1993 over the country’s poor human rights record and lack of progress towards democracy. President Gnassingbe now faces a significant challenge: How to safeguard entrenched military officers and ruling party interests while —even only apparently, meeting international demands for democratic reforms and human rights protection?
Togo has been on a sharp economic decline since the 1980s, while getting nearer and nearer to the spectre of civil strife since the early 1990s —the army’s interferences in the political debate from 1991 have caused a death toll of some 8,000 people, mostly pro-democracy civilians, which exposes the country to the outbreak of armed confrontations within or against the armed forces. Both trends are unlikely to be reversed without a political accord on the way forward endorsed by the country’s key political actors, and also a radical shift in the neo-colonialist, democracy-mindless and corruption-tainted policy that France has been pursuing in the country over the past 15 years, while claiming support to democracy and strict neutrality in Togo.
