Togo's Political Crisis

Togo seems to have joined many of their West African partners in the doldrums of instability. For many years after Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first leader following independence, Togo's neighbor to the west had featured numerous coups. But in recent years, Ghana has been the pillar of stability among the ECOWAS nations (Economic Community of West African States). Liberia, a country founded by ex-United States slaves in the mid-nineteenth century, has experienced a civil war for decades. Sierra Leone fell into Civil War during the 1990s because of the military's involvement in Liberia. Côte d'Ivoire (formerly Ivory Coast) had been stable under the apolitical mentoring of Félix Houphouët-Boigny. When Houphouët-Boigny died in 1993, Côte d'Ivoire fell into a political crisis which has led to numerous changes in leadership, resembling its neighbors.

Now Togo faces a similar situation. As with many African nations, once a long-time leader, in this case Gnassingbe Eyadema, dies or is overthrown, a constitutional crisis occurs. This is generally because no natural successor is chosen or unanimously agreed to. Togo is a former French colony. France has had an integral part in their former colonies' affairs since independence.


Togo is located in the southeastern portion of West Africa between Ghana and Benin.

- CAPITAL: Lome

- RECENT BACKGROUND: former French colony won independence in 1960.

- GEOGRAPHY: slightly smaller than West Virginia; sits between Ghana and Benin on the Gulf of Guinea on the west coast of Africa.

- ECONOMY: annual per capita income is $270; economicly dependent on cocoa and coffee production and the extraction of phosphates, limestone and marble.

- THE PEOPLE: 21 ethnic groups; dominated by the Ewe in the south and the Kabye in the north. Nearly one-half the people are under age 15.

Africans impose sanctions over new Togo president
Reuters

"West African nations suspended Togo from their bloc and imposed an arms embargo on Saturday, piling pressure on the country's new leader as thousands of protesters took to the streets to demand he step down."

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