Gnassingbé Eyadéma
5th President of Togo
In office April 14, 1967 – February 5, 2005
Preceded by	Kléber Dadjo
Succeeded by	Faure Gnassingbé
Personal details
Born	(1935-12-26)December 26, 1935 Pya, Togo
Died	February 5, 2005(2005-02-05) (aged 69) Tunisia
Nationality	Togolese
Political party	Rally of the Togolese People

General Gnassingbé Eyadéma (born Étienne Eyadéma, December 26, 1935 – February 5, 2005^[1][2][3]), was the President of Togo from 1967 until his death in 2005. He participated in two successful military coups, in January 1963 and January 1967, and became President on April 14, 1967. As President, he created a political party, the Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), and headed a single-party regime until the early 1990s, when reforms leading to multiparty elections began. Although his power was seriously challenged by the events of the early 1990s, he ultimately consolidated power again and won multiparty presidential elections in 1993, 1998, and 2003; the opposition boycotted the 1993 election and denounced the 1998 and 2003 election results as fraudulent. At the time of his death, Eyadéma was the longest-serving ruler in Africa.^[4]

Early life[link]

Eyadéma was born on the 26th of December 1935 in Pya, a village in the prefecture of Kozah in the Kara Region, to a peasant family in the Kabye tribe. According to Comi M. Toulabor, his official date of birth is “based on a fertile imagination” and it would be more accurate to say that he was born around 1930.^[5] In 1953, Eyadema joined the French army where he was trained in weapon use and the art of war. Eyadema participated in the French Indochina War and the Algerian War. After nearly 10 years in the French army, Eyadema returned to Togo in 1962. In 1963, he conducted a military coup against President Sylvanus Olympio, who died during the attack. He helped establish Nicolas Grunitzky as the new President of Togo. In 1967, Colonel Eyadema of the Togolese Army led a second military coup against Grunitzky. Eyadema installed himself as president on 14 April 1967 as well as Minister of National Defense, an office that he assumed for 38 years.

Politics[link]

After taking power, Eyadéma won uncontested elections in 1972, 1979, and 1986. During his rule he escaped several assassination attempts; in 1974 he was the only person to survive a plane crash in the northern part of the country near Sarakawa. After another unsuccessful assassination attempt by a bodyguard, he carried the bullet removed by the surgeon as an amulet. A national conference was held in August 1991, electing Joseph Kokou Koffigoh as Prime Minister and leaving Eyadéma as merely a ceremonial president. Although Eyadéma attempted to suspend the conference, surrounding the venue with soldiers, he subsequently accepted the outcome.^[6] Despite this, Eyadéma managed to remain in power with the backing of the army. In March 1993, an unsuccessful attack was made on the Tokoin military camp, where Eyadéma was living; several people were killed in the attack, including Eyadéma's personal chief of staff, General Mawulikplimi Ameji.^[7]

He attempted to legitimize his rule with a multiparty presidential election in August 1993, which was boycotted by the opposition; facing only two minor challengers, he won 96.42% of the vote, although turnout was reportedly low outside of his native Kara Region.^[8] Eyadéma officially won re-election in the June 1998 presidential election, defeating Gilchrist Olympio of the Union of the Forces of Change (UFC) with 52.13% of the vote according to official results,^[9] amid allegations of fraud and accusations of the massacre of hundreds of government opponents. The European Union suspended aid in 1993 in protest of alleged voting irregularities and human rights violations.

In late December 2002, the Constitution was changed to remove term limits on the office of president. Previously, presidents had been limited to two five-year terms, and Eyadéma would have therefore been forced to step down after the 2003 election. With the removal of these limitations, however, Eyadéma was free to stand again and did so, winning the election on June 1 with 57.78% of the vote. He was sworn in for another term on June 20.^[10] Another constitutional change was to reduce the minimum age of the President to 35 years, rather than 45. As Eyadéma's son Faure Gnassingbé was 35, many observers assumed that he was opening the way for a dynastic succession should he die suddenly.

Eyadéma constructed a large palace near his family home in Pya a few kilometers north of Lama-Kara. He was the chairman of the Organisation of African Unity from 2000 to 2001, and he attempted, unsuccessfully, to mediate between the government and rebels of Côte d'Ivoire in the First Ivorian Civil War, that began in that country in 2002.

The European Union sent a mission on June 1, 2004 to evaluate the state of democracy in Togo and to start a procedure of democratization of Togo. The expedition intended to open a dialogue between the state and the opposition. The team was supposed to meet with many politicians from other parties than Eyadéma's party, Rally of the Togolese People. But because of the criteria imposed by the government, politicians such as Gilchrist Olympio, Yawovi Agboyibo, and Professor Leopold Gnininvi boycotted the meeting. The European Union team cancelled the meeting since discussions with the government were almost impossible. The opposition party UFC wanted the release of 11 men held by the government. Finally, the European Union experts met each political figure individually and in private. The respect of human rights and of the press in Togo was another area to be investigated by the European Union experts.^[11]

According to BBC News, Eyadéma claimed that democracy in Africa "moves along at its own pace and in its own way."^[4]

Personality cult[link]

Monument to the 1974 Togo plane crash; Eyadema was the sole survivor.

Eyadéma had an extensive personality cult, including, but not limited to, an entourage of 1,000 dancing women who sang and danced in praise of him; portraits which adorned most stores; a bronze statue in the capital city, Lomé; $20 wristwatches with his portrait, which disappeared and re-appeared every fifteen seconds; and even a comic book that depicted him as a superhero with powers of invulnerability and super strength.^[12] In addition, the date of a failed attempt on President Eyadéma's life was annually commemorated as "the Feast of Victory Over Forces of Evil."^[13] Eyadéma even changed his first name from Étienne to Gnassingbé to note the date of the 1974 plane crash of which he was the only survivor.^[14]

Death[link]

On February 5, 2005, he died in a plane 250 km south of Tunis, Tunisia^[15]. He died "as he was being evacuated for emergency treatment abroad", according to a government statement. Officials have stated that the cause of death was a heart attack. At the time of his death he was the longest-serving head of state in Africa.

Zakary Nandja, chief of the Togolese army, pronounced his son Faure Gnassingbé as the new President of Togo. Alpha Oumar Konaré, president of the Commission of the African Union, immediately declared this act to be a military coup d'état and against the constitution. Other organizations, such as the International Community and ECOWAS, also did not approve the designation of Faure Gnassingbé as President.^[16] Under heavy pressure from ECOWAS and the international community, Faure stepped down on February 25 and was replaced by Bonfoh Abass, the first deputy parliament speaker, until after the presidential elections on April 24, 2005, when Faure Gnassingbé was elected president with 60% of the vote.^[17]

Eyadéma's funeral was held on 13 March 2005, in the presence of a number of Presidents and other international dignitaries; Presidents Mathieu Kérékou of Benin, John Kufuor of Ghana, Laurent Gbagbo of Côte d'Ivoire, Mamadou Tandja of Niger and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria attended the ceremony. On 15 March, Eyadema's family and the RPT party paid him a final homage in his hometown of Pya.^[18]

See also[link]

• Edem Kodjo (opposition politician and coalition leader)
• Agbéyomé Messan Kodjo
• History of Togo
• Politics of Togo

References[link]

^{[4] [11] [16] [18] [19]}

External links[link]

• BBC profile of Gnassingbé Eyadéma
• www.dictatorofthemonth.com article on Eyadéma
• Liberta Togo profile of Eyadema

v t e Heads of state of Togo Olympio • Bodjollé • Grunitzky • Dadjo • G. Eyadéma • F. Gnassingbé • Abass* • F. Gnassingbé * interim

Sylvanus Olympio

Sylvanus Epiphanio Olympio (6 September 1902 – 13 January 1963) was a Togolese political figure who served as Prime Minister, and then President, of Togo from 1958 until his assassination in 1963.

Political career[link]

Olympio served as the Prime Minister of Togo from 1958 to 1961, during which time he held elections to consolidate his power. He then served as the first President of Togo between 1961 and 1963, obtaining seats in an election that barred Nicolas Grunitzky's party. Opposition leaders, such as Anani Santos, Antoine Meatchi and Nicolas Grunitzky were either jailed in Mango prison or exiled to Ghana and Benin. Using "Ablode Sodja" militia, the president squashed political dissent.^[1]

During his presidency, Olympio pursued a pro-Western foreign policy. At one point, he visited the United States and had a friendly meeting with President John F. Kennedy.^[2] Togo maintained friendly relations with most of its neighbors, but relations with neighboring Ghana and its leader Kwame Nkrumah were consistently poor.^[3] Within the country, each state supported the other's dissidents.

Assassination[link]

Olympio was assassinated in a military coup d'état on January 13, 1963. The coup, the first coup d'état in a former French African colony, sent shock waves through Africa.^[4]

Col. Étienne Eyadéma, a participant in the coup who later assumed the presidency in 1967 and held it until his death in 2005, claimed to have personally fired the shot which killed Olympio.^[5] According to other sources, however, the head of the group of soldiers was Sergeant Emmanuel Bodjollé, Eyadema was not even a sergeant at the time.^[3]

Aftermath[link]

Sylvanus Olympio was succeeded by Emmanuel Bodjollé, head of an "Insurrection Committee" that ruled for only two days after which Nicolas Grunitzky was put in charge.

His son, Gilchrist Olympio, is currently the most prominent opposition leader in Togo.

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sylvanus Olympio

v t e Heads of state of Togo Olympio • Bodjollé • Grunitzky • Dadjo • G. Eyadéma • F. Gnassingbé • Abass* • F. Gnassingbé * interim

v t e Prime Ministers of Togo Colonial: Grunitzky • Olympio • Independent: Olympio • office abolished, 1961-91 • Koffigoh • E. Kodjo • Klutse • Adoboli • A. Kodjo • Sama • E. Kodjo • Agboyibo • Mally • Houngbo

Kpatcha Gnassingbé (born 6 September 1970^[1]) is a Togolese politician. He is a son of Gnassingbé Eyadéma, who was 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, and since 2008 he has been a Deputy in the National Assembly of Togo. In April 2009, he was arrested on suspicion on plotting to overthrow his brother.

Political career[link]

Gnassingbé was born in Lomé, the capital;^[1] both of his parents were from northern Togo.^[2] During his father's presidency, he was closely associated with the military^[3] and worked as Director-General of the Company for the Administration of the Free Zone (SAZOF) in Lomé.^[4][5] Upon his father's death in February 2005, his brother Faure assumed the presidency, and on 20 June 2005 Kpatcha was appointed to the government as Minister of Defense.^[3][6]

In the October 2007 parliamentary election, Gnassingbé was the first candidate on the candidate list of the Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) in Kozah Prefecture^[1] and won a seat in the National Assembly.^[7] However, he resigned from the National Assembly on 26 November 2007 due to incompatibility of functions, as he was still serving as Minister of Defense.^[5]

Gnassingbé was excluded from the government that was appointed on 13 December 2007,^[8] and subsequently he sought to regain his parliamentary seat. He therefore resigned as Director-General of SAZOF and as head of the Board of Directors of the Togolese Cotton Company (SOTOCO), and he informed the President of the National Assembly of his willingness to take his seat again on 12 February 2008; accordingly, the Constitutional Court restored him to his seat in a decision issued on 14 February 2008, as he no longer held any positions incompatible with the role of Deputy.^[5]

Kpatcha Gnassingbé was viewed as a hard-liner within the RPT regime, while his brother Faure was seen as having more reformist tendencies.^[9] He was a member of the RPT Political Bureau.^[10]

2009 arrest and subsequent events[link]

Kpatcha Gnassingbé's home was stormed by elite special forces on 12 April 2009, and two soldiers were reported killed in fighting there. The purpose of the assault was officially said to be the arrest of individuals allegedly involved in a plot "to undermine state security", and a number of arrests were reported. Soldiers returned to Gnassingbé's home on 14 April, although he was not present at the time. Gnassingbé sought asylum at the United States embassy in Lomé on 15 April, but the embassy refused to grant him asylum, and he was arrested at the scene by Togolese soldiers. According to state prosecutor Robert Bakai, there was "serious and corroborating evidence" indicating that Kpatcha Gnassingbé was behind a plot to overthrow his brother Faure.^[9] Bakai said on 17 April that the conditions of Gnassingbé's detention were "acceptable" and "humane". He also described Gnassingbé as "a respectable citizen who has served the nation".^[11]

The opposition Union of the Forces of Change (UFC) criticized the arrest, saying that Gnassingbé enjoyed parliamentary immunity. However, his case was legally treated as one of flagrante delicto; according to the constitution, deputies could be arrested and tried without the formal lifting of their immunity by a vote of the National Assembly only in cases of flagrante delicto.^[12]

Faure Gnassingbé, speaking on state television on 17 April 2009, alleged the existence of a coup plot, saying that the coup was supposed to occur while he was out of the country on a visit to China. He did not specifically mention Kpatcha in that address.^[13] Additional arrests followed in the subsequent weeks; those arrests reportedly included another brother, Essolizam Gnassingbé.^[10]

Citing Gnassingbé's parliamentary immunity, the UFC appealed to the Constitutional Court regarding Gnassingbé's arrest on 26 October 2009, but the Court rejected the appeal on 4 November.^[14]

In an interview with the news agency Agence France-Presse in February 2010, Faure Gnassingbé stressed the importance of "building a lawful state" when discussing his brother's case: "We could settle it in the family, more simple, but it is a question of credibility. We cannot say on one side we are for reforms and on the other settle such cases surreptitiously, on the side."^[15]

References[link]