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Republic of (Republique Togolaise) area
56,800 sq km/21,930 sq mi capital Lome
physical two savanna plains, divided by a
range of hills NE-SW. features rich mineral
deposits (phosphates, bauxite, marble, iron
ore, limestone); dry plains, forest, and
arable land head of state and of government
Etienne Gnassingbe Eyadema from 1967
government system one-party socialist
republic political parties Assembly of the
Tongolese People (RPT), nationalist,
socialist. exports cocoa, coffee, coconuts,
copra, phosphate, bauxite currency CFA franc
(485.00 = 1 Mar 1990) population (1986)
3,423,000; annual growth rate 3% life
expectancy men 49, women 52 language French
(official), many local languages religion
traditional 60%, Muslim 20%, Christian 20%
literacy 53% male/28% female (1985 est) GNP
$790 million (1983); $348 per head of
population chronology 1960 Achieved full
independence as the Republic of Togo with
Sylvanus Olympio as head of state. 1963
Olympio killed in a military coup. Nicolas
Grunitzky became president. 1967 Grunitzky
replaced by Lt-Gen Etienne Gnassingbe Eyadema
in a bloodless coup. 1969 The Assembly of
Togolese People (RPT) formed as the only
legal political party. 1979 Eyadema returned
in election, declared a Third Republic and
began to intrduce civilians into the
government. 1986 Attempted coup failed.
Togo
Country in W Africa, bounded to the W by
Ghana, to the E by Benin, and to the N by
Burkina Faso. government The 1979
constitution created a one-party, socialist
republic based on the Assembly of the
Togolese People (RPT). The president is
elected by universal suffrage for a
seven-year term and is eligible for
re-election. The president is head of state
and head of government, appointing and
presiding over a council of ministers, and is
also president of RPT. There is a
single-chamber legislature, the National
Assembly, of 77 members, elected by universal
suffrage from a list of RPT nominees and
serving for five years. There is an illegal
opposition party, the Togolese Movement for
Democracy, which is based in Paris. history
For early history, see Africa. Called
Togoland, the country was a German
protectorate 1885-1914, when it was captured
by Anglo-French forces. It was divided
between Britain and France in 1922 under a
League of Nations mandate and continued under
United Nations trusteeship from 1946. In 1956
British Togoland voted for integration with
Ghana, where it became Volta region 1957.
French Togoland voted to become an autonomous
republic within the French union. The new
Togolese republic achieved internal
self-government in 1956 and full independence
in 1960. Sylvanus Olympio, leader of the
United Togolese (UT) party, became president
in an unopposed election in Apr 1961. In 1963
Olympio was killed in a military coup and his
brother-in-law Nicolas Grunitzky, who had
gone into exile, was recalled to become
president. In 1967 Grunitzky was, in turn,
deposed in a bloodless military coup, led by
Lt-Gen Etienne Gnassingbe Eyadema. The new
constitution was suspended; Eyadema assumed
the presidency and banned all political
activity. Six years later he founded a new
party, the socialist, nationalist RPT, and
declared it the only legal political
organization. Between 1967 and 1977 there
were several attempts to overthrow him but by
1979 Eyadema felt sufficiently secure to
propose a new coalition and embark on a
policy of gradual democratization. An attempt
to overthrow him in Oct 1986, by mercenaries
from Burkina Faso and Ghana, was easily
thwarted.