TOGO

Republic of Togo

République Togolaise

CAPITAL: Lomé

FLAG: The national flag consists of five alternating horizontal stripes of green and yellow. A five-pointed white star is at the center of a red square that spans the height of the top three stripes.

ANTHEM: Terre de nos aïeux (Land of Our Fathers).

MONETARY UNIT: The Communauté Financière Africaine franc (CFA Fr) is a paper currency of 100 centimes. There are coins of 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, and 500 CFA francs and notes of 50, 100, 500, 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 CFA francs. CFA Fr1 = $0.00192 (or $1 = CFA Fr521.74) as of 2005.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES: The metric system is the legal standard.

HOLIDAYS: New Year's Day, 1 January; National Liberation Day, 13 January; Economic Liberation Day, 24 January; Victory Day, 24 April; Independence Day, 27 April; Labor Day, 1 May; Martyrs' Day, 21 June; Assumption, 15 August; All Saints' Day, 1 November; Anniversary of the failed attack on Lomé, 24 September; Christmas, 25 December. Movable religious holidays include Easter Monday, Ascension, Whitmonday, 'Id al-Fitr, and 'Id al-'Adha'.

TIME: GMT.

LOCATION, SIZE, AND EXTENT

Situated on the west coast of Africa, Togo has an area of 56,785 sq km (21,925 sq mi), extending 510 km (317 mi) n–s and 140 km (87 mi) e–w. Comparatively, the area occupied by Togo is slightly smaller than the state of West Virginia. Togo is bounded on the n by Burkina Faso, on the e by Benin, on the s by the Gulf of Guinea, and on the w by Ghana, with a total boundary length of 1,703 km (1,058 mi), of which 56 km (35 mi) is coastline.

Togo's capital city, Lomé, is located on the Gulf of Guinea coast.

TOPOGRAPHY

Togo is traversed in the center by a chain of hills, the Togo Mountains, extending roughly southwest into Ghana and northeastward into Benin and averaging about 700 m (2,300 ft) in height. The highest elevation is Mt. Agou (986 m/3,235 ft). To the north and west of these hills, the Oti River drains in a southwesterly direction into the Volta River, which constitutes a part of the upper boundary with Ghana. To the north of the Oti River Valley lies gently undulating savanna country. From the southern spurs of the central hills, a plateau stretches gradually southward to a coastal plain. The coastline consists of a flat sandy beach thickly planted with coconut trees and partially separated from the mainland by lagoons and lakes that are the former estuaries of several rivers.

CLIMATE

Togo has a humid, tropical climate, but receives less rainfall than most of the other countries along the Gulf of Guinea. In the south there are two rainy seasons, from March to early July and in September and October. The heaviest rainfall occurs in the hills of the west, southwest, and center, where the precipitation averages about 150 cm (60 in) a year. North of the Togo Mountains there is one rainy season, lasting from April to August. Rainfall in this region averages 100 cm (40 in) a year. The coast gets the least rainfall, about 78 cm (31 in) annually. The average maximum and minimum temperatures are 30°c (86°f) and 23°c (73°f) at Lomé, on the southern coast, and 35°c (95°f) and 15°c (59°f) at Mango, in the north.

FLORA AND FAUNA

Natural vegetation is chiefly of the savanna type, luxuriant in the rainy season, brittle grass and shrub during the dry season. Dense belts of reeds are found along the coastal lagoons. Much of the largest wildlife has been exterminated in the southern area, but in the north, elephants and lions still can be found. Hippopotamuses and crocodiles live in and along the rivers, and monkeys are fairly common. The coastal swamps abound in snakes. As of 2002, there were at least 196 species of mammals, 117 species of birds, and over 3,000 species of plants throughout the country.

ENVIRONMENT

The dense tropical rain forests that once covered much of the country are now found only along the river valleys and in isolated pockets of the Atakora Mountains. Slash-and-burn agriculture and the cutting of wood for fuel are the major causes of forest depletion. Between 1990 and 2000, Togo lost an average of 3.4% of its forest and woodland each year. Soils are generally of poor quality, requiring intensive fertilization and cultivation to be productive. The soil and water supply are threatened by pesticides and fertilizers. The nation's land is also threatened by desertification.

Water pollution is a significant problem in Togo, where only 80% of urban dwellers and 36% of the people living in rural areas have access to improved water sources. Contamination of the water supply contributes to the spread of disease.

Responsibility in environmental matters is vested in the Ministry of Rural Development and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism. The government of Togo has tried to protect the nation's environment through a comprehensive legislative package, the Environmental Code of 1988. As of 2003, 7.9% of Togo's total land area was protected.

The nation's wildlife population is at risk due to poaching and the clearing of land for agricultural purposes. According to a 2006 report issued by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), the number of threatened species included 7 types of mammals, 2 species of birds, 2 types of reptiles, 3 species of amphibians, 8 species of fish, and 10 species of plants. Threatened species included the African elephant, Diana monkey, and West African manatee.

POPULATION

The population of Togo in 2005 was estimated by the United Nations (UN) at 6,145,000, which placed it at number 101 in population among the 193 nations of the world. In 2005, approximately 3% of the population was over 65 years of age, with another 43% of the population under 15 years of age. There were 98 males for every 100 females in the country. According to the UN, the annual population rate of change for 2005–2010 was expected to be 2.7%, a rate the government viewed as satisfactory. The projected population for the year 2025 was 9,613,000. The population density was 108 per sq km (280 per sq mi), with density greatest in the south, exceeding 500 per sq km (200 per sq mi) in some areas.

The UN estimated that 33% of the population lived in urban areas in 2005, and that urban areas were growing at an annual rate of 3.96%. The capital city, Lomé, had a population of 799,000 in that year. Other important centers with estimated populations are Sokodé, 86,500; Kpalimé, 75,000; Atakpamé, 64,000; and Aného, 24,000.

The prevalence of HIV/AIDS has had a significant impact on the population of Togo. The number of AIDS orphans increased by 17,000 from 2003–04. The UN estimated that 6% of adults between the ages of 15–49 were living with HIV/AIDS in 2001. The AIDS epidemic causes higher death and infant mortality rates, and lowers life expectancy.

MIGRATION

There is a steady migration of laborers from rural to urban areas. Members of the Ewe group migrate to and from Ghana. Formerly, an estimated 100,000 workers went to Ghana from Togo each year, but because of Ghana's declining economy, this number has probably decreased. There is also much movement of Ouatchi, Adja, Kabré, and Losso peoples to and from Benin. Some of the aliens expelled from Nigeria in 1983 were Togolese; moreover, Togo suffered the disruptive effect of the hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians who returned home from Nigeria via the Togolese coastal roads. Foreign refugees in Togo, including Ewe dissidents in exile from Ghana, are entitled to employment and free medical treatment, although they retain the status of aliens. About 7% of the population consists of noncitizens. The total number of migrants in Togo in 2000 was 179,000 including refugees. As of 2004, there were 11,285 refugees, including 11,208 Ghanaian refugees in northern Togo, and 390 asylum seekers, and 120 returned refugees. In 2005, the net migration rate was estimated as zero migrants per 1,000 population. This was a significant change from -6.7 per 1,000 in 1990. The government views the migration levels as satisfactory.

ETHNIC GROUPS

Native Africans constitute 99% of Togo's total population. About 40 tribal groups comprise a mosaic of peoples of distinct languages and histories. The main ethnic group consists of the Ewe and such related peoples as the Ouatchi, Fon, and Adja; they live in the south and constitute about 20–25% of the population. Next in size are the Kabye, accounting for about 10–15% of the population. As elsewhere in Africa, political and ethnic boundaries do not coincide. Thus, the Ewe are divided by the Togo–Ghana boundary, and large numbers of Ouatchi, Adja, Kabye, and Losso live in adjacent Benin. Other significant groups are the Mina (5% of the population), Cotocoli (10–15%), Moba (10–15%), Gourma, Akposso, Ana, Lamba, Ehoué, and Bassari. Despite Togo's complex ethnic, linguistic, and racial makeup, a major distinction can be made between the tribes of Sudanic origin that inhabit the northern regions and those of the true Negroid Bantu type found in the south. The remaining 1% of Togo's populace is non-African, mostly European and Syrian-Lebanese.

LANGUAGES

French is the official language. Most newspapers are printed in French, and trade and commerce passing through Anécho and Lomé usually are conducted in that language; however, the public schools combine French with Ewe and Mina in the south, Kabiye and Dagomba in the north. In northern Togo, Hausa is also widely spoken. Pidgin English and French are used widely in the principal trading towns. In all, more than 44 different languages and dialects are spoken in Togo.

RELIGIONS

The most recent statistics indicate that about 47% of the population are Christian. Of these nearly 28% are Catholic. About 14% of the population are Sunni Muslim. Nearly 33% practice a variety of traditional indigenous religions or other faiths, including Vodoun (Voodoo), which is believed to have originated in the region that is now Togo. Most of the Muslims live in the central and northern parts of the country, while Christians are found primarily in the south.

The government requires registration of religious groups, but this involves a fairly easy process and no applications have been rejected outright. The constitution provides for freedom of religion and this right is generally respected in practice. Certain Muslim and Christian holidays are celebrated as national holidays.

TRANSPORTATION

Togo has a relatively well-developed road system of about 7,520 km (4,673 mi), of which 2,376 km (1,476 mi) were paved in 2002. One main road, completely paved since 1980, runs north from Lomé to the border with Burkina Faso; another runs east along the coast from Lomé to Aného and onward to the Benin border; and a third runs west along the coast to the Ghana border. Because of extreme variations in weather, the roads that are not paved require constant attention. During the dry season, they are very dusty and crack easily, but during the rainy season they become extremely muddy and are frequently washed out. In 2003, there were 97,800 passenger cars and 43,200 commercial vehicles.

As of 2004, Togo had 568 km (326 mi) of meter gauge (narrow gauge) railroad, including three major lines from Lomé: to Kpalimé (116 km/72 mi), to Aného (44 km/27 mi), and to Atakpamé and Blitta (276 km/171 mi). An 80-km (50-mi) spur goes to Tabligbo. The rail system is operated by Chemin de Fer Togolais.

Togo lacks a natural harbor, but in 1968 a major deepwater port east of central Lomé was completed with a loan from the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). An autonomous free port at Lomé serves landlocked Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali. There is also a phosphate-handling port at Kpémé. A small merchant-shipping fleet was created in 1974 as a joint venture with the FRG. In 2005 there were two ships of 1,000 GRT or over, totaling 3,918 GRT. As of 2003, Togo's navigable inland waterways consisted of a 50 km (31 mi) stretch of the Mono River, in which navigation is seasonal and dependent upon rainfall.

There were an estimated nine airports in 2001, only two of which had paved runways as of 2005. The international airport at Lomé links Togo with other countries of West and Central Africa and with Europe; a second international airport, at Niamtougou, was completed in the early 1980s. Among the international airlines serving Togo is Air Afrique, of which Togo owns a 7% share. Air Togo operates domestic service, flying to airstrips at Atakpamé, Sokodé, Sansanné-Mango, Lama-Kara, Niamtougou, and Dapaong. In 2003, about 46,000 passengers were carried on scheduled domestic and international airline flights.

HISTORY

Between the 12th and the 18th century, the Ewe, Adja, and related peoples, who now constitute a majority of the population of southern Togo and adjoining Ghana, came to this area from the Niger River Valley as a result of pressure from the east. Portuguese sailors visited the coast in the 15th and 16th centuries. Slave shipments began from Grand Popo (now in Benin), Petit Popo (now Anécho), and other coastal villages; traders introduced the growing of cassava, coconuts, corn, and other crops in order to provision their slave ships. The French established trading posts at Petit Popo in 1626 and again in 1767, but abandoned them each time. The French were again active there and at Porto-Séguro, east of Lomé, from 1865 to 1883.

German traders came to Grand Popo as early as 1856, but did not arrive in significant numbers until 1880. Germany finally established control over the area, its first African acquisition, on 5 July 1884, when Dr. Gustav Nachtigal made a treaty with the chief of Togo, a village on the north side of a lagoon behind Porto-Séguro. The treaty established a German protectorate over a small coastal enclave, and the village name eventually was given to the entire territory. The Germans established a capital first at Baguida, then at Zebe, and in 1897 at Lomé. Boundary delimitations with the British and French were made in 1897 and 1899. Although the Volta River formed a natural boundary between Togo and the Gold Coast (now Ghana), as a result of the negotiations, the frontier diverged from the river about 320 km (200 mi) north of Lomé and descended diagonally, so that the so-called Volta Triangle on the left bank became part of the Gold Coast. The boundary arrangements resulted in splitting the Ewe, Adja, Ouatchi, Fon, and other peoples between the Gold Coast, Togo, and Dahomey (now Benin). As the Germans extended their control to the north, they built roads and railroads and established administrative, legal, economic, educational, and other institutions.

Soon after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, neighboring French and British units gained control of Togo. In a provisional arrangement, the British took the coastal area and the railways, and the French assumed control of the interior. League of Nations mandates were established in 1922.

Following World War II, both the United Kingdom and France placed their spheres of Togoland under UN trusteeship. Beginning in 1947, leaders of the Ewe people repeatedly petitioned the UN first for Ewe unification and subsequently for Togoland unification. At the time, the Ewe were under three different administrations: the Gold Coast, British Togoland, and French Togoland. For nine years thereafter, the Togoland question was before the UN. Its resolution was difficult not only because of the resistance of the British and French governments to the Ewe demands, but also because both the Ewe and non-Ewe of the two Togolands were deeply divided on the form self-determination should take. The problem was partially resolved by a plebiscite held in British Togoland on 9 May 1956 under UN supervision. A majority of the registered voters decided in favor of integration of British Togoland with an independent Gold Coast. Consequently, when the Gold Coast became the independent state of Ghana, British Togoland ceased to exist.

On 28 October 1956, in a referendum held in French Togoland, 72% of the registered voters chose to terminate French trusteeship and to accept the status of internal autonomy and continued association with France that had been proffered them by the French government. This unilateral effort to terminate French trusteeship was not accepted by the UN.

In April 1958, new elections were held under UN supervision. The Committee for Togolese Union, pledged to secure complete independence, won control of the Togo Assembly, and its leader, Sylvanus Olympio, subsequently became prime minister. On 13 October 1958, the French government announced that full independence would be granted, and on 27 April 1960, the Republic of Togo became a sovereign nation, with Olympio as president.

President Olympio was assassinated on 13 January 1963 by military insurgents. At the insurgents' behest, Nicolas Grunitzky, the exiled leader of the Togolese Party for Progress, returned to Togo and formed a provisional government. He abrogated the constitution, dissolved the National Assembly, and called new elections. In the May 1963 balloting, Grunitzky was elected president, a new 56-member National Assembly was chosen, and a new constitution was approved by national referendum.

Grunitzky held office through 1966. The final months of his presidency were marked by antigovernment demonstrations involving many of Olympio's former supporters and sympathizers. On 13 January 1967, the Grunitzky government was overthrown by a military coup led by Col. Kléber Dadjo, who was succeeded in April 1967 by Lt. Col. Étienne Éyadéma. The constitution was again suspended and the Assembly dissolved, and Éyadéma declared himself president.

In 1969, Éyadéma proposed the establishment of a national party of unification, the Togolese People's Rally (Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais—RPT). At its first party congress in November 1971, the RPT representatives opposed the idea of constitutional government and asked for a national referendum in support of the Éyadéma regime. This took place in January 1972, with 99% of the population voting for Éyadéma. Survivors of a 1970 plot to overthrow the regime were pardoned after the referendum, and several former members of Olympio's government joined the RPT. Others of Olympio's supporters went into exile or into business, and there was no coherent opposition to the government.

In 1974, Éyadéma began to advocate a "cultural authenticity" policy, stimulated at least in part by the crash of his private plane in January 1974, from which he escaped uninjured. The crash (the cause of which he believed suspicious) followed his nationalization of the phosphate industry and appeared to spur his drive for further Africanization in Togo. At this time, Éyadéma dropped his first name, Étienne, using instead his African second name, Gnassingbé.

Éyadéma was reelected as president without opposition on 30 December 1979, when the voters also approved a draft constitution for what was called the Third Republic (succeeding the republics headed by Olympio and Grunitzky). A 67-member National Assembly was elected at the same time. Éyadéma remained firmly in control in the early 1980s, despite the disruptions caused by Nigeria's expulsion of illegal aliens and the economic decline attributable to falling phosphate prices. An alleged plot to assassinate Éyadéma on 13 January 1983, while French president, François Mitterrand, was visiting Togo, apparently misfired. Éyadéma reportedly blamed Gilchrist Olympio, the son of the former president, for the coup attempt.

On 23–24 September 1986, about 60 insurgents, mostly Togolese in exile, attempted to seize control of Lomé but were repulsed. About 150 French and 350 Zairian troops were flown in to help restore order. The official death toll was 26. The coup attempt was reportedly financed by Gilchrist Olympio, who was sentenced to death in absentia. Another 12 men were given death sentences, and 14 were sentenced to life imprisonment. Éyadéma accused Ghana and Burkina Faso of aiding the insurgents. In National Assembly elections on 24 March 1985, 216 candidates, all approved by the RPT, contested 77 seats; only 20 deputies were reelected. Éyadéma was elected unopposed to a new seven-year term as president on 21 December 1986.

Opposition to Éyadéma's rule came to a head in March 1991 when, after police clashes with thousands of antigovernment demonstrators, the government agreed to institute a multiparty system and to grant amnesty to dissidents. On 28 August 1991, Éyadéma ended 24 years of military rule by surrendering authority to Joseph Kokou Koffigoh, an interim prime minister selected by a National Conference. The RPT was to be disbanded and Éyadéma barred from running for the presidency.

In October and November 1991, armed forces loyal to Éyadéma failed several times to overthrow Koffigoh. On 3 December 1991, however, they attacked the government palace and seized him. The French refused to help Koffigoh; instead, he was forced to compromise; he then formed a coalition government with Éyadéma and legalized the RPT.

On 5 May 1992, opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio was severely wounded in an ambush, and in July another opposition figure was assassinated. The transitional government several times rescheduled the referendum on a new constitution. Finally, on 27 September 1992, it was approved. The legislative and presidential elections were postponed again and again until August 1993.

The Army, composed largely of Kabyé (Éyadéma's group) has never accepted Éyadéma's ouster, the National Conference, or Koffigoh. Eventually, Koffigoh's interim government was dissolved in 1992, and Éyadéma consolidated his powers. However, in January 1993 he reappointed Koffigoh prime minister of a government which cooperated closely with Éyadéma, now president. On 25 August 1993, Éyadéma easily won reelection as president (97% of the vote). The electoral process, however, was marred by a low turnout (all major opposition candidates refused to participate) and serious irregularities.

Following delays, legislative elections were held in two rounds in February 1994. With the exception of Olympio's Union of the Forces of Change (UFC), the main opposition parties participated. The RPT reportedly took 33 of the 81 seats in the first round. The Action Committee for Renewal (CAR), won 19. Koffigoh's New Force Coordination failed to take a single seat. Nonetheless, the armed forces continued to attack opposition politicians. The second round voting was marred by violence, with armed gangs attacking voting stations and opposition supporters. Still, international observers declared the election satisfactory.

On 24 February 1994 the National Electoral Commission released results for 76 seats as follows: opposition, 38 seats; RPT, 37 seats; Koffigoh, 1 seat. The Supreme Court ordered new elections for 3 seats of the Action Committee for Renewal and the Togolese Union for Democracy, lowering their totals to 34 and 6 seats, respectively. Defections from the CAR to the RPT and the merging of the Union of Justice and Democracy (UJD) with the RPT gave the RPT a narrow majority with 42 seats.

In June 1998 Éyadéma officially won the presidential elections with 52%, but the opposition rejected the election as rigged. Éyadéma's dubious victory precipitated a national crisis, and led the opposition to boycott the legislative elections delayed and then scheduled for March 1999. In July, the RPT and opposition parties signed the Lomé Framework Agreement, which included a pledge by Éyadéma to respect the constitution and not to seek another term. The Agreement ensured among other things political rights for opposition leaders, the safe return for refugees, and compensation for victims of political violence. Éyadéma also agreed to dissolve the National Assembly in March 2000 and hold new legislative elections, to be supervised by an independent national election commission (CENI). The March deadline passed, as did deadlines in October 2001 and March 2002. The elections were finally held on 27 October 2002, but under a boycott from the Union of the Forces for Change (UFC) and the Action Committee for Renewal (CAR), grouped as the Coalition of Democratic Forces (CFD). The RPT took 72 of the 81 seats.

In December 2002, parliament amended the constitution to allow Éyadéma to seek a third term, and to bar Gilchrist Olympio, leader of the UFC, from running by instituting residence requirements. In February 2003, a new nine-member CENI was formed, including four representatives each of the RPT and the opposition umbrella group CFD. The ninth member was the president of the Lomé Court of Appeal. However, the UFC withdrew from the CFD because it regarded CENI's mandate as curtailed by the government, and because it regarded the CFD's actions and strategies as incoherent. In June, Éyadéma won the election with 57.8% of the vote, but no international observers were present, and the opposition refused to accept the outcome as a free and fair expression of the will of the people.

Facing a new political stalemate, the government initiated talks in late 2003 and into 2004 with the opposition via the Cotonou Convention platform (2000) sponsored by the EU. Despite the regime's new promises to implement reforms, the opposition mostly boycotted the talks. In December 2004, the boycott seemed to be having an effect as Éyadéma dissolved the parliament and announced new elections for 2005. However, in February 2005, he died unexpectedly leaving a succession void, which was precipitously filled by his son, Faure Gnassingbé. Although Gnassingbé had the support of the army, strong pressure from ECOWAS forced him to step down and to organize fresh elections. On 24 April, Gnassingbé won the election, but again the opposition dismissed the exercise as fraudulent, and neither the EU nor the United States recognized the outcome as legitimate. In rioting that followed, more than 150 people were killed, and thousands fled the country in the face of government crackdowns. Gnassingbé also appointed his brother Kpatcha Gnassingbé to be defense minister.

In the months that followed, Nigerian president Obasanjo insisted on a government of national unity with an opposition prime minister. Bowing to concerted pressure, Gnassingbé finally appointed an opposition leader, Edem Kodjo—a former head of the OAU—to be the new prime minister, however, this appointment was refused by the UFC. Talks held in Rome between Gnassingbé and Gilchrist Olympio sponsored by the Italian Catholic community of Sant Egidio, revealed a number of sticking points including a mutually acceptable electoral framework and constitutional rules.

Specifically, the opposition demanded a return to the 1992 constitution while the RPT refused to reverse the amendments made in 2002 that disqualify Olympio's candidacy, but allow Gnassingbé to hold office. In the meantime, Lomé became a dangerous city beset by violent organized crime. Owing to government crackdowns, poor military accountability and harassment by pro-government militias, the number of Togolese seeking refuge in neighboring Benin and Ghana grew to about 45,000 by 2006.

GOVERNMENT

The constitution of 30 December 1979 provided for a president nominated by the RPT and elected for a seven-year term by universal adult suffrage at age 18. The president nominated and presided over the cabinet and may rule by decree after declaring a state of emergency. Members of the National Assembly were nominated by the RPT and directly elected for five years. The legislature, which may be dissolved by the president, met twice a year.

A new constitution mandating multiparty elections was approved in a referendum on 27 September 1992. Although opposition parties are permitted, they are subjected to intimidation and coercion. Chief of state, President Gen. Gnassingbé Éyadéma, held power between April 1967 and February 2005, which made him sub-Saharan Africa's longest ruling leader at the time. The cabinet is a Council of Ministers appointed by the president and the prime minister. Given the weakness of the legislature, and the RPT's majority, public decision-making authority resides with the executive.

According to the constitution, the president is elected by popular vote for a five-year term. In December 2002, the National Assembly amended the constitution, revoking the two-term limit on the presidential office (allowing Éyadéma to run again), instituting a single rather than two-round system of voting (to prevent the opposition from forcing a run-off against their best-placed candidate), insisting that presidential candidates be residents of Togo for at least 12 months prior to the election (to prevent Gilchrist Olympio from running), and to lower the minimum age for presidential candidates to 35, (enabling Faure Gnassingbé to run). The 81-seat National Assembly is selected in national, multiparty elections.

The next presidential election was scheduled in principle for 2010, and the next parliamentary election was scheduled for 2007 with the possibility that an agreement would be reached to hold it in 2006.

POLITICAL PARTIES

Political parties in Togo were considerably more active and competitive before independence than after, and from 1969 till the legalization of opposition parties in 1991, Togo was a one-party state. In the first Territorial Assembly elections in 1946, there were two parties, the Committee of Togolese Unity (Comité de l'Unité Togolaise—CUT) and the Togolese Party for Progress (Parti Togolais du Progrès—PTP). The CUT was overwhelmingly successful, and Sylvanus Olympio, the CUT leader and Assembly president, campaigned for Ewe reunification. The CUT controlled all Assembly seats from 1946 to 1952. In the 1952 elections, however, the CUT was defeated, and it refused to participate in further elections because it claimed that the PTP was receiving French support. In the territorial elections of 1955, the PTP won all 30 Assembly seats, and when Togo was given autonomy in 1956, Nicolas Grunitzky, PTP leader, became prime minister.

In the UN-supervised elections of April 1958, the CUT regained power with a demand for independence from France, while the PTP and the Union of Chiefs and Peoples of the North (Union des Chefs et des Populations du Nord—UCPN) advocated that Togo remain an autonomous republic within the French Union. The two defeated parties merged in October 1959 to form the Togolese People's Democratic Union (Union Démocratique des Populations Togolaises—UDPT), under Grunitzky's leadership.

In March 1961, the National Assembly enacted legislation that based elections to the Assembly on a party-list system, with a single ballot in which a majority would be decisive. In the April 1961 elections, which were held on this single-list system, candidates from the alliance of the UDPT and the Togolese Youth Movement (Mouvement de la Jeunesse Togolaise—Juvento) were prevented from registering and were not permitted on the ballot. Consequently, the new Assembly consisted entirely of CUT members.

After Olympio (who had become president in 1960) was assassinated by military insurgents, Grunitzky, who was living in exile in Benin (then Dahomey), was invited back to Togo to form a provisional government. Grunitzky announced that free elections would be held, but in fact the delegates of the four leading parties—UDPT, Juvento, the Togolese Unity Movement (Unité Togolaise, formed from the CUT after Olympio's assassination), and the Togolese Popular Movement (Mouvement Populaire Togolais)—as well as the insurgents' Committee of Vigilance, agreed on a single national union list of candidates. In the elections of 5 May 1963, Grunitzky became president and Antoine Meatchi vice-president; a new 56-member Assembly was elected; and a new constitution was approved by national referendum. In early 1967, however, Grunitzky was deposed, and a military regime took power, with no constitution and no legislature.

Organized political activity was suspended until 1969, when the Togolese People's Rally (Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais—RPT) was founded as the nation's sole legal political party. The President heads the RPT, which has a Central Committee and a Political Bureau. In the 1979 and 1985 legislative elections, all candidates were nominated by the RPT. In the 1994 legislative elections, however, other parties participated.

Political opposition to Éyadéma became bolder after 1990. For years, an anti-Éyadéma group, the Togolese Movement for Democracy (Mouvement Togolais pour la Démocratie), functioned in exile from Paris. After opposition parties were legalized on 12 April 1991, and especially after the National Conference engineered a governmental change in August 1991, other parties began to function, albeit in an atmosphere of threat from the armed forces and pro-Éyadéma gangs. Among the country's parties as of 1996 were the Coordination des Forces Nouvelles (CFN), Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), Togolese Union for Democracy (UTD), Action Committee for Renewal (CAR), Union for Democracy and Solidarity (UDS), Pan-African Sociodemocrats Group (GSP—an alliance of three radical parties: CDPA—Democratic Convention of African Peoples, PDR–Party for Democracy and Renewal, and PSP—Pan-African Social Party), Union of Forces for Change (UFC), and Union of Justice and Democracy (UJD).

All major opposition parties boycotted the 1993 elections, delaying elections until February 1994. The winners distributed the seats as follows: CAR 36, RPT 35, UTD 7, UJD 2, CFN 1. However, as a result of defections from the CAR to the RPT and the merging of the UJD with the RPT, representation in the National Assembly in August 1997 was RPT 42, CAR 32, UTD 5, CFN 1, independent 1, giving Eyadema's party a narrow majority.

Disagreements between the divided opposition and the RPT thwarted efforts to achieve a national consensus on how the 1998 elections were to be conducted. The opposition boycotted the elections in March 1999 to protest the alleged cheating by Éyadéma and his supporters in the June 1998 presidential election. But progress was made in defining the role of the national electoral commission (CENI), and by April 2000, the two sides agreed to return to the table to discuss endorsement of an electoral bill, and related issues pertaining to national reconciliation. Legislative elections were delayed throughout 2000, 2001, and early 2002; they were finally held on 27 October 2002. The elections were judged to be democratic and transparent by international election observers, but the two main opposition parties--the UFC and the CAR--grouped as the Coalition of Democratic Forces (CFD), boycotted the elections, and the RPT emerged with 72 of the 81 seats. Also winning seats were the Rally for Democracy and Development (Rassemblement pour le souteien de la démocratie et du développement—RSDD), 3; the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (Union pour la démocratie et le progrès social—UDPS), 2; Juvento, 2; the Believers' Movement for Equality and Peace (Mouvement des croyants pour l'égalité et la paix—MOCEP), 1; and an independent won 1 seat.

In early 2003, the UFC pulled out of the CFD umbrella opposition organization, due to disagreements with its strategies and its agreement to sit on the newly reformed electoral commission, CENI, which the UFC judged to be manipulated by the government. In the June 2003 presidential contest, Éyadéma scored 57.8% of the vote to 33.7% for the UFC candidate, Emmanual Bob-Akitani, Gilchrist Olympio's replacement. In the April 2005 presidential contest, Bob-Akitani ran against Éyadéma's son, Faure Gnassingbé, and was defeated 60.1% to 38.3%. The main opposition declared both polls fraudulent, and has refused to accept the results. The UFC and the CAR remained outside the government of national unity.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Togo is divided into five administrative regions—Maritime, Plateaux, Centrale, Kara, and Savanes—each supervised by an inspector. The regions are subdivided into 30 prefectures and four sub-prefectures. Inspectors and prefects are appointed by the president. The prefectures and sub-prefectures are subdivided into cantons. The prefectures in theory are supposed to be governed by elected councils, but these elections have never been held.

A policy of decentralization has been undertaken in Togo, and local communities comprise 30 communes, 9 of them "fully independent" with an elected mayor, and 21 "semi-independent" with the prefect acting as mayor. Communes have popularly elected municipal councils.

JUDICIAL SYSTEM

Maintaining the independence of the judiciary is the responsibility of the Superior Council of Magistrates, which was set up in 1964 and includes the president of the republic as chairman, the minister of justice, the president and vice president of the Supreme Court, and others. A Constitutional Court is the highest court of jurisdiction in constitutional matters. The Supreme Court sits in Lomé; there is also a sessions court (Court of Assizes), and Appeals Courts. Tribunals of first instance are divided into civil, commercial, and correctional chambers; labor and children's tribunals; and the Court of State Security, set up in September 1970 to judge crimes involving foreign or domestic subversion. A Tribunal for Recovery of Public Funds handles cases involving misuse of public funds.

The judicial system blends African traditional law and the Napoleonic Code in trying civil and criminal cases. In practice, the judiciary is subject to the influence and control of the executive branch.

Defendants in criminal cases are presumed innocent and are afforded the right to counsel. Village chiefs or a Council of Elders may try minor criminal cases in rural areas. Appeals from such rulings may be taken to the regular court system.

Trials are open and judicial procedures are generally respected. However, the judicial system suffers from the lack of personnel and remains overburdened.

ARMED FORCES

In 2005, Togo's armed forces numbered 8,550 active personnel. The Army numbered some 8,100 troops including a Presidential Guard unit. Equipment included two main battle tanks and nine Scorpion light tanks. The 250-member Air Force had 16 combat capable aircraft that included 4 fighter ground attack aircraft. The country's estimated 200-member Navy had two coastal patrol vessels. Paramilitary forces numbered 750 members. In 2005, the defense budget totaled $38.3 million.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

Togo was admitted to the United Nations on 29 September 1960. It is a member of ECA and several nonregional specialized agencies, such as the World Bank, UNESCO, UNIDO, the ILO, FAO, and the WHO. Togo also belongs to the African Development Bank, the ACP Group, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, ECOWAS, G-77, the WTO, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the West African Economic and Monetary Union, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the Community of Sahel and Saharan States (CENSAD), and the African Union. Togo has been an active member of the Conseil d'Entente, which includes Côte d'Ivoire, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Benin. Togo hosted the signing ceremony for the Lomé Convention (providing for preferential treatment by the European Community for developing countries) in February 1975. The nation is part of the Franc Zone.

In environmental cooperation, Togo is part of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Ramsar, CITES, International Tropical Timber Agreements, the Kyoto Protocol, the Montréal Protocol, MARPOL, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and the UN Conventions on the Law of the Sea, Climate Change, and Desertification.

ECONOMY

Togo has an agricultural economy with over 65% of its people engaged in subsistence and commercial agriculture. Togo is drought-prone but is food self-sufficient in years of ample rainfall. Coffee, cocoa, and cotton are the major cash crops, and the food crops include corn, sorghum, millet, cassava, and yams. The nation also has an active commercial sector and significant phosphate deposits upon which it draws for foreign exchange.

Political instability led to the suspension of international aid in 1992 as donors pressured the government into quicker action toward democratic reforms. Economic activity was further disrupted by an eight-month general strike that lasted until July 1993.

In January 1994 France suddenly devalued the CFA franc, cutting its value in half overnight. Immediately, prices for almost all imported goods soared, including prices for food and essential drugs. The devaluation was designed to encourage new investment, particularly in the export sectors of the economy, and discourage the use of hard currency reserves to buy products that could be grown domestically. Unfortunately, political instability and a general atmosphere of uncertainty prevented the country from taking advantage of the devaluation to improve the economy. Excessive military expenditures and stalled progress on privatizing state-owned enterprises were factors keeping the World Bank and IMF from resuming aid. During the 1995 to 1997 structural adjustment program, Togo succeeded in meeting demands and capturing funds only for the last year.

The 1998 presidential elections and 1999 legislative elections were characterized as undemocratic. These events led to reconciliation talks in July 1999 that laid the groundwork for a more democratic government, bringing back substantial development aid. However, legislative elections held in 2002 were boycotted by opposition parties, and the presidential elections of 2003 were deemed by opposition leaders to be marred by irregularities and fraud. This political climate did little to encourage foreign investors, increase donor contributions, and provide the stability needed for economic progress. While most bilateral and multilateral aid to Togo remained frozen as of early 2006, the EU initiated a partial resumption of cooperation and development aid to Togo in late 2004, based upon commitments by Togo to expand opportunities for political opposition and liberalize portions of the economy.

INCOME

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reports that in 2005 Togo's gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated at $9.0 billion. The CIA defines GDP as the value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year and computed on the basis of purchasing power parity (PPP) rather than value as measured on the basis of the rate of exchange based on current dollars. The per capita GDP was estimated at $1,600. The annual growth rate of GDP was estimated at 2.8%. The average inflation rate in 2005 was 5.5%. It was estimated that agriculture accounted for 39.5% of GDP, industry 20.4%, and services 40.1%.

According to the World Bank, in 2003 remittances from citizens working abroad totaled $103 million or about $21 per capita and accounted for approximately 5.9% of GDP. Foreign aid receipts amounted to $45 million or about $9 per capita and accounted for approximately 2.6% of the gross national income (GNI).

The World Bank reports that in 2003 household consumption in Togo totaled $1.49 billion or about $307 per capita based on a GDP of $1.8 billion, measured in current dollars rather than PPP. Household consumption includes expenditures of individuals, households, and nongovernmental organizations on goods and services, excluding purchases of dwellings. It was estimated that for the period 1990 to 2003 household consumption grew at an average annual rate of 3.9%. It was estimated that in 1989 about 32% of the population had incomes below the poverty line.

LABOR

Togo's labor force in 2002 (the latest year for which data was available) was estimated at two million. In 1998, about 65% of the labor force engaged in agriculture, 30% in services, and 5% in industry. The majority of families engage in subsistence farming. Data on unemployment in Togo was not available.

Trade unions in Togo, which once were the base for left-wing opposition to the military regime, have been incorporated into the one-party system. The Central Committee of the RPT dissolved the central bodies of all Togolese trade unions in December 1972, and the National Workers Confederation of Togo (Confédération Nationale des Travailleurs du Togo—CNTT) was established in 1973 as the sole national union. In 1991, the National Conference suspended the automatic withholding of CNTT dues for all workers, and it froze CNTT's assets. Several trade unions left the CNTT, some of which then affiliated with two new federations: the Labor Federation of Togolese Workers and the National Union of Independent Syndicates. Since 1991, all of Togo's labor federations have taken a more active role in independent collective bargaining. About 60–70% of the workforce in the formal (wage) sector (about 20% of the entire workforce) was unionized as of 2002.

The minimum working age is 14 (18 for certain industrial employment) but it is not enforced and many children work, especially on their family's subsistence farms. The minimum wage varies for different categories of employment and ranged from $20 to $33 monthly in 2002. This does not provide a living wage for a family. The workweek is limited to 72 hours, with one mandatory rest period of 24 hours.

AGRICULTURE

Togo is predominantly an agricultural country, with about four-fifths of the work force engaged in farming. Approximately 12% of the land area is arable. Most food crops are produced by subsistence farmers who operate on family farms of less than 3 hectares (7 acres). Peanuts and sorghum are grown in the extreme north; sorghum, yams, and cotton in the region around Niamtougou; sorghum, cotton, and corn in the central region; coffee, cocoa, and cotton in the southern plateau; and manioc, corn, and copra near the coast. Agriculture accounted for about 39.5% of GDP in 2003.

In the late 1990s, the government emphasized food production. Main food crops in 2004 (in tons) included manioc, 725,000; yams, 570,000; corn, 485,000; sorghum, 180,000; and millet, 50,000. Although Togo is basically self-sufficient in food, certain cereals—notably wheat, which cannot be grown in Togo—must be imported.

Leading cash crops are coffee and cocoa, followed by cotton, palm kernels, copra, peanuts, and shea nuts (karité). Coffee production decreased from 22,000 tons in 1991 to 13,500 tons in 2004. Cocoa production amounted to just 8,500 tons in 2004—less than half the amount produced 15 years earlier. When world prices for both coffee and cocoa fell in the mid-1980s, there was a greater emphasis on cotton production, with cotton exports increasing by over 400% from 1984 to 1992. Cotton production averaged 7,000 tons annually from 1979 to 1981; production in 2004 totaled 76,000 tons of fiber. A new state organization, the Togolese Cotton Co., had been set up in 1974 to develop the industry. Production of palm kernels, historically erratic, was estimated at 21,000 tons in 2004. There are over 100,000 coconut trees in Togo; about 2,000 tons of copra are produced annually. The peanut crop in 2004 was 33,000 tons (shelled). Some attempts are being made to export pineapples, house plants, vegetables, and palm oil.

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

Alleviation of the tsetse fly in the savanna area north of the Atakora Mountains has permitted the development of small-scale cattle raising. Most of the cattle thus produced, principally the humpless West African shorthorn type, are either consumed locally or, when there are surpluses, driven south for consumption in the main cities and towns. Few cattle are exported. Grazing is communal, in the south on family group lands and in the north on tribal lands. Water supplies are short in certain areas.

Livestock in 2005 included an estimated 1.48 million goats, 1.85 million sheep, 320,000 hogs, 280,000 head of cattle, and 9 million chickens. There are slaughterhouses at Lomé, Atakpamé, Sokodé, Lama-Kara, Sansanné-Mango, and Dapaong.

FISHING

Fishing remains relatively unimportant, in part because of the country's limited territorial waters. Production, mostly by small operators employing pirogues, amounted to an estimated 28,706 tons in 2003; about 78% of that was caught in Atlantic waters and the rest inland. Almost all fish is sold smoked or dried. A new fishing quay has been constructed at Lomé, and a joint Libyan-Togolese fishing company has been established. Togo imports fish from Europe and its West African neighbors.

FORESTRY

Although much of Togo once was forested, the country now must import wood. Production of roundwood in 2004 was estimated at 5,914,000 cu m (208,700,000 cu ft), of which 96% was for fuel.

MINING

As of 2004, Togo was a producer of cement, clinker, diamonds, gold, limestone and phosphate rock, the latter of which is found mostly in the coastal region and whose production accounts for most of the country's industrial activity. Phosphate rock is also a leading export commodity, accounting for around 24% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Phosphate rock production (by gross weight) in 2004 was 1.115 million metric tons, down from 1.441 million metric tons in 2003. Togo's output of phosphate rock has been declining since production hit a high of 2.73 million metric tons in 1996. Virtually the entire output was exported, the principal destination being the European Union (EU). However, the phosphate rock currently mined in the coastal region contains a high amount of cadmium (about 150 milligrams per kilogram; mg/kg), and the EU is considering setting a 60mg/kg cadmium limit on imports of phosphate rock within five years, followed by a 20mg/kg limit within 15 years. Although cadmium-free resources have been identified in Togo's northwest, they are not currently being mined. The phosphate industry was nationalized in 1974, and production was carried-on by the Togolese Office of Phosphates (Office Togolais des Phosphates—OTP), one of Togo's largest employers. Although the government was pursuing the privatization of its phosphate mines; no serious offers were made.

Exploitation of marble reserves in the region around Niamtougou was begun in 1970 by the Togolese Marble Co. The state-run Nouvelle Sotoma closed operations in 1991, and the government has been looking for private investors to lease or purchase the operation.

Iron ore reserves, east of Bassari, were 95 million tons, averaging more than 40% iron. There was some artisanal recovery of diamond and gold. Other mineral deposits included attapulgite, barite, bauxite, bentonite, brick clay, chromite, copper, dolomite, garnet, granite, gypsum, kaolin, kyanite, limestone, manganese, monazite, nickel, peat, rutile, silica sand, and dimension stone. The government considered many of these potential small-scale operations.

ENERGY AND POWER

Togo, as of 1 January 2003 had no proven reserves of crude oil, natural gas, or oil refining capacity. All hydrocarbon needs were met by imports. In 2002, Togo's imports and consumption of refined petroleum products averaged 11,870 barrels per day. There were no recorded imports or consumption of natural gas in 2002.

Togo's main energy source is electricity. Togo's installed electrical generating capacity in 2002 totaled 0.035 million kW, of which 0.032 million kW of capacity came from conventional thermal plants, and 0.003 million kW came from Hydroelectric sources. Electric power production in 2002 amounted to 0.115 billion kWh, of which conventional thermal plants produced 0.112 billion kWh, and hydroelectric plants the rest. Demand for electric power that year came to 0.602 billion kWh, necessitating electricity imports of 0.500 billion kWh.

INDUSTRY

Manufacturing represents a small part of the economy (6–8%), with textiles and the processing of agricultural products—palm oil extraction, coffee roasting, and cotton ginning and weaving—being the most important sectors. Cocoa, coffee, and cotton generate some 40% of export earnings, with cotton being the most important cash crop. Other industries were developed to provide consumer goods—footwear, beverages, confectioneries, salt, and tires. Phosphate mining, however, is the most important industrial activity, accounting for 5% of GDP and 26–28% of exports in 2002. Togo as of 2006 was the world's fourth-largest producer of phosphate. Until the mid-1980s, most industries were partly or totally government owned. Sales and leases reduced the parastatal sector by nearly half by 1990, but by 2006 most privatization had stalled.

The government-owned phosphates plant put out a maximum of 3.3 to 3.5 metric tons a year, at the Office Togolaise de Phosphates (OTP). Togo's cement clinker plant, Cimtogo, is operated and owned by a Norwegian company, Scancem. The textile complex at Kara, along with a second plant at Dadja, were bought by American and Korean interests in 1987. A cotton ginning plant opened in 1991 in Talo; as of 2002 there were six cotton-producing factories in Togo, with a capacity of 205,000 metric tons. A plastics factory is 25% state owned and 75% owned by Danish and Swiss interests. The steel rolling mill in Lomé reopened in 1991. The state-owned national oil refinery was leased to Shell Togo and converted into a storage facility. The national dairy was bought by a Danish company in 1995. A free-trade zone opened in Lomé in 1990. Following the election of Faure Gnassingbé as president in 2005, there was more interest in this program, as the country wished to attract foreign business from Asia and Europe in the industry and service sectors.

Togo is involved in the $500 million West Africa Gas Pipeline. The pipeline's estimated capacity is 400 million cubic feet per day, and is expected to supply industry in Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, and Togo. Construction of the pipeline began in 2005.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

The National Institute of Scientific Research, founded in 1965 at Lomé, is the central scientific coordinating body. Several French research institutes have branches in the capital, and there are pilot farm projects throughout the country. The University of Benin at Lomé maintains faculties of sciences and medicine and schools of engineering and agriculture. Togo also has an agricultural school at Kpalimé and a technical college at Sokodá. In 1987–97, science and engineering students accounted for 35% of college and university enrollments. In the same period, expenditures for research and development totaled 0.5% of GNP. For the period 1990–2001, there were an estimated 102 scientists and engineers, and 65 technicians engaged in research and development per million people. High technology exports in 2002 were valued at $1 million, accounting for 1% of the country's manufactured exports.

DOMESTIC TRADE

The Togolese are among the most active traders on the West African coast, with much of the domestic trade handled by women. The national trade organization, Société Nationale de Commerce (SONACOM), has a monopoly on importation and distribution of soaps, cereals, sugar, salt, and industrial products, but there is still a flourishing free market both within Togo and with neighboring countries.

Most wholesalers have their headquarters in Lomé, the principal commercial and financial center. In Lomé, some shops specialize in such lines as dry goods, foodstuffs, and hardware. Elsewhere, retailers deal in a wide variety of goods rather than specializing in a few products. In the smaller towns, individual merchants deal in locally grown products and items of the first necessity. Kpalimé, Sokodé, and Tsévié are smaller regional commercial and trade centers.

Business hours are from 8 am to 5:30 pm, Monday through Friday, and from 7:30 am to 12:30 pm on Saturday. Banks are normally open from 8 am to 4 pm on weekdays only.

FOREIGN TRADE

Togo's export earnings in 2000 fell to nearly half their 1999 level due to sharp declines in coffee, cotton, and gold output. Togo's main export commodities are crude fertilizers, cotton, and cement. Other exports include coffee and cocoa.

In 2004, Togo's primary export partners were: Burkina Faso (16.3%), Ghana (15%), Benin (9.4%), Mali (7.6%), China (7.4%), and India (5.6%). Primary import partners included: China (25.5%), India (13.3%), and France (11.5%).

BALANCE OF PAYMENTS

In 2005, the value of Togo's exports was estimated at $768 million, and the value of imports at $1.047 billion. The current account balance was estimated at -$223 million. Togo had an external debt burden of $2 billion in 2005. The country had $331 million in reserves of foreign exchange and gold.

BANKING AND SECURITIES

The bank of issue is the Central Bank of the West African States (Banque Centrale des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest-BCEAO), based in Dakar, which also acts in that capacity for Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger, Senegal, and Burkina Faso. Togo has a 10% share in the BCEAO, the development bank of which has its headquarters in Lomé.

The most important commercial and savings banks include the Banque Internationale de L'Afrique (BIA), ECOBANK Togo, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, the Libyan Arab-Togolese Bank of Foreign Commerce, the Banque Togolaise de Commerce et de L'Industrie (BTCI), and the Union Bank of Togo (the latter two with a state share of 35%).

Development banks include the Togolese Development Bank, founded in 1967, which has a 50% state share; the 36.4% state-owned National Farm Credit Fund; and the state-owned National Investment Co., which is intended to mobilize savings, guarantee loans to small- and medium-sized domestic enterprises, and amortize the public debt. The banking and credit systems are not well developed, and large sections of the population remain outside the monetary economy. The banking system was virtually shut down by the general strike in the first half of 1993 and a limited service operated until the second half of 1994.

The International Monetary Fund reports that in 2001, currency and demand deposits—an aggregate commonly known as M1—were equal to $220.3 million. In that same year, M2—an aggregate equal to M1 plus savings deposits, small time deposits, and money market mutual funds—was $327.0 million. The money market rate, the rate at which financial institutions lend to one another in the short term, was 4.95%. The discount rate, the interest rate at which the central bank lends to financial institutions in the short term, was 6.5%.

There are no securities exchanges in Togo.

INSURANCE

The Togolese Insurance Group is 63% state owned; about a half-dozen French companies were also operating in Togo in the 1990s.

PUBLIC FINANCE

By the late 1970's, public investment expenditures had reached an unsustainable level (exceeding 40% of GDP), touched off by an earlier rise of commodity prices. As a result, large payment arrears on the external debt began to mount. In the mid-1980s, the fiscal deficit was reduced largely through IMF credits and debt reschedulings. The civil unrest of 1991 resulted in decreased revenues and increased expenditures, and led to an overall budget deficit of 7.5% of GDP. In 1992, further civil unrest widened the budget deficit to 8.5% of GDP. In 1994, Togo entered into new programs with the IMF and the World Bank.

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) estimated that in 2005 Togo's central government took in revenues of approximately $251.3 million and had expenditures of $292.9 million. Revenues minus expenditures totaled approximately -$41.6 million. Total external debt was $2 billion.

TAXATION

Taxes are levied on individual incomes and on corporate profits and capital gains. A transactions tax, a tax on fuel consumption, and social security contributions are also paid. There are also registration and stamp taxes and a tax on income from securities. A 5% "solidarity" surtax on salaries was imposed in 1983 as an austerity measure. There was a value-added tax of 18% in 1998.

CUSTOMS AND DUTIES

There are no export controls. Tariffs are based on a nondiscriminatory schedule at 5%, 10%, or 20% and there is a customs stamp tax and a 3% statistical tax. A common external tariff (CET) for members of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) is set at a maximum of 22% for goods coming from outside the WAEMU. Restricted or prohibited goods include arms, ammunition, narcotics, and explosives.

FOREIGN INVESTMENT

In the 1980s, Togo was distinguished by a relatively pro-Western, entrepreneurial stance, but incidents of political violence from 1991 to 1994—including the targeting of foreign-owned shops (principally Lebanese and Indian) by rioters in January 1993—and in 1998, following the contested presidential election in June, together with the maintenance of many restrictions on foreign investment and evidence of increased corruption have deterred foreign investment as well as stalled the privatization process. Togo's current investment code, enacted April 1990, was designed as an improvement over the previous code, and offers foreign investors guaranteed repatriation of capital and profits. The former investment code offered tax exemptions, but these were abused, and were removed in the 1990 revision. The investment code, which applies only to foreign investment of about $42,000, allows foreign participation up to 100% ownership in eight listed sectors (agriculture, fishing, and forestry; manufacturing; mining; low-cost housing; tourist infrastructure; agricultural storage; applied research; and socio-cultural activities), requires that the business must employ at least 60% local workers and provide at least 25% of the funding. The 1989 export processing zone (EPZ) law gives companies the advantages of duty-free imports of materials for production, a less restrictive labor code, and the ability to hold foreign currency accounts. About 35 firms were operating in the EPZ in 2002, representing investments from France, Italy, Norway, Denmark, the United States, India, and China. A severe electricity shortage in the EPZ from March to May 1998 hurt manufacturing enterprises particularly. Prospects for foreign investment in the EPZ in the industrial and service sectors looked brighter after the election of Faure Gnassingbé in 2005. In 2000 a Franco-Canadian consortium took over the state power company.

The annual inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) to Togo rose from $23 million in 1997 to a high of almost $70 million in 1999. FDI inflow declined to $57.2 million in 2000, but recovered to $67 million in 2001. As a percent of gross fixed capital formation, FDI inflows rose from 11.3% in 1997 to nearly 35% in 1999, averaging about 30% in 2000 and 2001. In 2003, FDI amounted to 1.12% of GDP.

Major foreign investors include the United States, France, Germany, and Denmark. Petroleum products distribution, seafood processing, construction, textile milling, and agricultural processing are the main foreign businesses. The top corporate tax rate in 2006 was 40%.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The 1981–85 development plan called for spending roughly equal allocation levels for rural development (26.5%), industry (29.2%), and infrastructure (29.5%). In the 1986–90 development plan, principal allocations were for infrastructure and rural development.

Of the development funds for the 1986–90 plan, 90% were sought from foreign sources. Principal sources of development aid are France, Germany, the United States, China, the EU, the World Bank, and IDA. France ranked first among the bilateral donors, with Germany second. The government was diverted from implementing the plan by international financial considerations and concerns over the process of democratization. In 1998 the EU and World Bank suspended aid because of such considerations, and poor economic performance. Accords signed in 1999 brought back some interest in developing the country economically, but the major setback remained inadequate political development. While most bilateral and multilateral aid to Togo remained frozen as of early 2006, the EU initiated a partial resumption of cooperation and development aid to Togo in late 2004, based upon commitments by Togo to expand opportunities for political opposition and liberalize portions of the economy.

Togo is a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), whose development fund is located in Lomé. The country is also a member of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA). Affiliated with the UEMOA is the West African Development Bank, also based in Lomé.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

The government's social welfare program, under a 1973 law, amended in 2001, includes family allowances and maternity benefits; old age, disability, and death benefits; and workers' compensation. Retirement is normally allowed at age 55. The program covers employed persons, students, apprentices and members of cooperatives. Maternity benefits are provided for 14 weeks to working women. The labor code requires employers to provide paid sick leave. Family allowances are available for almost all workers with children, including domestic, casual, and temporary laborers. The program supplements a continued strong sense of social obligation to one's family or clan, even among those in urban centers.

The status of women is improving, but they are still subject to legal and social restrictions. A husband may deny his wife the right to work and has legal control over her earnings. Women face discrimination in employment and access to education. A wife has no financial rights in a divorce and no inheritance rights upon the death of her husband. Polygamy is practiced. Although illegal, female genital mutilation is performed on numerous girls and women. Domestic abuse and violence are widespread. Child labor also continued to be a problem.

The human rights record of the Togolese government remains poor. Abuses include political repression, excessive force by police (with little accountability), and arbitrary arrest and detention. Prison conditions remained very harsh. Human rights organizations are permitted to exist, although they may be subject to intimidation by the government.

HEALTH

Medical services include permanent treatment centers and a mobile organization for preventive medicine. Special facilities treat leprosy, sleeping sickness, and mental illness. All services are free except at the clinic attached to the hospital in Lomé, where some patients pay a nominal fee. In 2004, there were an estimated 6 physicians, 17 nurses, 1 dentist, 3 pharmacists, and 7 midwives per 100,000 people. About 61% of the population had access to health care services, and total health care expenditure was estimated at 2.6% of GDP. Approximately 54% of the population had access to safe drinking water and 34% had adequate sanitation.

The Mobile Service for Hygiene and Preventive Medicine performs mass inoculations, carries out pest control campaigns, and provides education in hygiene and basic preventive measures. Its activities have led to significant decreases in mortality caused by smallpox, yellow fever, and sleeping sickness. Yaws, malaria, and leprosy continue to be major medical problems. Immunization rates for children up to one year old were: tuberculosis, 73%; diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus, 71%; polio, 71%; and measles, 58%. Rates for DPT and measles were, respectively, 41% and 43%.

The crude birth rate and overall mortality rate were estimated at, respectively, 36.1 and 11.3 per 1,000 people. The fertility rate in 2000 was five children per woman living through her childbearing years. The infant mortality rate was 62.20 per 1,000 live births in 2005 and the maternal mortality rate was 480 per 100,000 live births. Average life expectancy in 2005 was 57.01 years.

The HIV/AIDS prevalence was 4.10 per 100 adults in 2003. As of 2004, there were approximately 110,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in the country. There were an estimated 10,000 deaths from AIDS in 2003.

At least 50% of the women in Togo underwent female genital mutilation. The government has published a policy opposing the practice.

HOUSING

With the limited resources at its disposal, the government is endeavoring to solve the problem of urban overcrowding by promoting housing schemes and establishing sanitation facilities. According to the latest available information for 1980–88, total housing units numbered 470,000 with 6.2 people per dwelling.

Rural dwellings are generally made from sun-dried mud bricks and mud plaster, with straw roofs. Urban dwellings are made of cement blocks and/or bricks with brick or iron sheeted roofs.

EDUCATION

Six years of primary education (ages 6–12) is compulsory and free of charge. Secondary education lasts for seven years, with students attending either general or technical secondary schools. Mission schools play an important role in education.

In 2001, about 2% of children between the ages of three and five were enrolled in some type of preschool program. Primary school enrollment in 2003 was estimated at about 91% of age-eligible students. In 2000, secondary school enrollment was about 26.6% of age-eligible students. It is estimated that about 77.8% of all students complete their primary education. The student-to-teacher ratio for primary school was at about 34:1 in 2000; the ratio for secondary school was about 31:1. In 2000, private schools accounted for about 40% of primary school enrollment and 18% of secondary enrollment.

The University of Lomé and the University of Kara are the primary sites for higher education. Lomé also has colleges of administration, architecture, and urban planning. In 1999, it was estimated that about 4% of the tertiary age population were enrolled in tertiary education programs. The adult literacy rate for 2004 was estimated at about 53%, with 68.5% for men and 38.3% for women.

As of 2003, public expenditure on education was estimated at 2.6% of GDP, or 13.6% of total government expenditures.

LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS

The National Library in Lomé has a collection of approximately 18,000 volumes. The University of Lomé Library offers some library services to the public. There is a public library with 26 service points holding a total of 63,000 volumes. The National Museum, founded in Lomé in 1975, has ethnography, history, and art exhibits. There are regional museums in Aného, Kara, Savanes, and Sokode.

MEDIA

Telecommunications links are maintained with major African, European, and American cities. There is an automatic telephone exchange in Lomé. In 2003, there were an estimated 12 mainline telephones for every 1,000 people; about 27,500 people were on a waiting list for telephone service installation. The same year, there were approximately 44 mobile phones in use for every 1,000 people.

The government owns the only major television station as well as the primary radio stations. The radio network presents programs in French, English, and local languages. Television service, broadcast in French and local languages, began in 1973. In 2003, there were an estimated 263 radios and 123 television sets for every 1,000 people. The same year, there were 32 personal computers for every 1,000 people and 42 of every 1,000 people had access to the Internet. There was one secure Internet server in the country in 2004.

The Journal Official de la République du Togo is published daily in Lomé; another Lomé daily, Togo-Presses, published in French and Ewe, had a circulation of 15,000 in 1999. Both are government owned. In 2005, there were at least six privately owned weekly papers.

The constitution of Togo provides for freedom of speech and of the press; however, though the government is said to generally respect these rights, it has on one occasion intimidated journalists through threats, detention, and other persecution. Opposition media are tolerated, though sometimes censored or prevented access to information.

ORGANIZATIONS

The Chamber of Commerce, Agriculture, and Industry is active in Lomé. The Federation of Non-Government Organizations of Togo helps promote small enterprise development by providing training and lobbying services. The African Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions, a large multinational organization promoting high ethical business and accounting standards, is based in Lomé.

The major women's and youth groups are affiliated with the RPT. There is also a Junior Chamber, the Scout Association of Togo, and YMCA/YWCA programs for youth. Sports associations promote amateur competitions in such pastimes as tae kwon do, baseball and softball, badminton, and track and field. Cultural organizations, all located in Lomé, include the Alliance Française, American Cultural Center, Goethe-Institute, and Togolese Association for Cultural Exchanges with Foreign Countries.

Social action organizations include Islands of Peace, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, and the Togo Association of Volunteers for Development. Volunteer service organizations, such as the Lions Clubs International, are also present. There are national chapters of the Red Cross Society, Caritas, UNICEF, and CARE Togo.

TOURISM, TRAVEL, AND RECREATION

Tourist attractions include the Mandouri hunting reserve in the northeast, and the beaches and deep sea fishing of the Gulf of Guinea coast. Even though social and political calm has been restored after disturbances in the early 1990s, there has been lack of financial resources for the development of tourism. In 2003, there were 60,592 tourist arrivals creating an 11% occupancy rate in the 4,480 hotel rooms with 6,720 beds. Tourism receipts totaled about $16 million in 2002.

According to 2005 estimates of the US Department of State, the average daily cost of staying in Lomé was $170, and Lama Kara and other small areas were significantly smaller averaging $72.

FAMOUS TOGOLESE

Togo's most prominent statesman was Sylvanus Olympio (1902–63), who led his country's fight for independence and was its first president. Gnassingbé Éyadéma (Étienne Éyadéma, 1937–2005) was president of Togo from 1967 until his death in 2005, when his son Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé (b.1966) became president. Edem Kodjo (b.1938) was OAU secretary-general, 1978–84.

DEPENDENCIES

Togo has no territories or colonies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Decalo, Samuel. Togo. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Clio, 1995.

Curkeet, A. A. Togo: Portrait of a West African Francophone Republic in the 1980s. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland and Co., 1993.

Decalo, Samuel. Historical Dictionary of Togo. 3rd ed. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1996.

Zeilig, Leo and David Seddon. A Political and Economic Dictionary of Africa. Philadelphia: Routledge/Taylor and Francis, 2005.

TOGO

Togolese Republic
République Togolaise

COUNTRY OVERVIEW

LOCATION AND SIZE.

The Togolese Republic is situated in West Africa. It is a narrow rectangle of land which extends north from the Bight of Benin, on which it has a small coastline of 50 kilometers (31 miles). To the west lies Ghana, to the east is Benin, and Burkina Faso borders on the north. It has a land area of 56,785 square kilometers (21,925 square miles), making it slightly smaller than West Virginia. Lomé, the capital city, is situated on the coast and is the only city with an international airport.

POPULATION.

In mid-1999 the United Nations estimated Togo's population at 4.5 million. With an average annual population growth of 2.6 percent, the population is projected to grow by the year 2025 to 8.5 million. Some 31 percent of the population lives in towns, which have an urban growth rate of 4.8 percent. Togo has a young age profile, with half the population aged less than 14 years. Life expectancy in Togo is 48.8 years. Although infant mortality is down from 110 per 1,000 births in 1980 to 70 in 1995, it remains high. (In the United States, by way of comparison, the rate is 7 per 1,000 births). Fertility rates remain high, with an estimated average of 6.05 children born per woman. The country's workforce stands at 1.74 million and this comprises about 41.7 percent of the population.

The largest ethnic group, the Ewe, live predominantly in the south and on the coast, and have cross-border ties to Ghana. Also in the south live the Mena and the Ana. The Kabre people are concentrated in the Kozah and Binah prefectures of the Kara region in the north. The Losso and Tchokossi live in north Lamba. The Bassar inhabit Central Kotokoli and Kotokoli, and have strong links to northern Ghana. The population is 10 percent Muslim, one-third Christian, and the remainder follow traditional beliefs.

OVERVIEW OF ECONOMY

Togo is a small economy in terms of the total value of its output. This is because the population is small, at around 4.5 million, and the GDP per capita in 1999 was very low at US$1,700 a year (by way of comparison the U.S. figure is US$33,900 per capita). The population is growing rapidly, at 3.4 percent a year, which adds to the problems of generating higher incomes. Most people (66 percent of the total) depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, mostly from small family farms. The economy of Togo has not performed well in recent years. Output has increased less rapidly than population, and average living standards have fallen. The agriculture sector has performed better than industry and services, however, and agricultural output per person has increased in recent years.

Togo is by all accounts a severely underdeveloped country. Low income levels mean that most income is devoted to subsistence, and more than 80 percent of GDP goes to private consumption. Savings (7 percent of GDP) and investment (13 percent of GDP) are both low. But underdevelopment is more than just a matter of income levels. The United Nations (UN) includes education and health as well as income in its Human Development Index, and the problems in both these areas helped place Togo 145th out of the 174 countries listed by the Human Development Index in 1998.

There are, however, some bright spots in Togo's economic picture. Mineral exploration in 1998 showed oil deposits in Togo waters, which may be exploited if shown to be viable. Hoping to attract investment, the government inaugurated what it calls an "industrial free zone " (actually, a free trade zone) with fiscal benefits in exchange for company guarantees on export levels and employment. And electricity imports fell after the completion in 1988 of a hydroelectric dam, built in conjunction with Benin.

In 1994, Togo embarked upon a strategy to achieve currency and other fiscal stabilization in consultation with the IMF. This program has been delayed due to political instability. The IMF has also since been very critical of the government's loss of momentum in tightening public finances. In the lead-up to the election in 1998 the government overspent, which meant the budget deficit grew to 6.7 percent of GDP, well outside the IMF guidelines of 3 percent of GDP. There is pressure to establish effective control of the budget and to reduce public sector wages, with spending reallocated to poverty alleviation and other high priority issues. Despite efforts to rationalize and broaden the tax system, heavy deficits were still recorded. In the 2000 budget many cutbacks were made. Health spending decreased by 16.3 percent, defense spending decreased by 17.7 percent, presidential office spending decreased by 32.7 percent, and expenditures by the prime minister's office decreased by 51.1 percent. However, the government is still dependent on foreign aid to cover the US$40 million deficit.

Togo is a member of the CFA Franc Zone, with its currency linked by a fixed exchange rate to the French franc. This provides a convertible currency with other countries that share the CFA franc and exchange rate stability. However, in order to achieve this, Togo has agreed to give control of its monetary policy to the regional central bank of the CFA Franc Zone, the Banque Centrale des Etats de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (BCEAO). Since more rapid inflation makes it difficult to maintain the fixed exchange rate, the money supply is under the control of the BCEAO. The BCEAO changed its 1980s policy of expansion and started to restrict credits to the private and government sectors in the early 1990s, which meant a slowdown in the growth of the money supply. As inflation fell after a 1994 devaluation of the currency, BCEAO was able to ease its monetary policy by reducing interest rates from 19.5 percent (1994) to 6 percent (1997). In 1998 BCEAO raised interest rates to 6.25 percent and increased commercial bank minimum reserve ratios (which restrict the banks' ability to lend) to forestall inflation. In 1999 the CFA franc became tied to the euro (the European Union's common currency) at a rate that reflected the euro's relationship to the French franc. A smooth transition meant that the BCEAO was able to cut interest rates to 5.75 percent, making it easier for people and business to borrow money.

Steady economic growth in the 1970s (averaging about 4 percent) gave way to low growth in the 1980s, with GDP growth becoming less than population growth, leading to a reduction in GDP per capita. Political and social unrest in the early 1990s meant that GDP contracted by 3.7 percent in 1992 and 13.7 percent in 1993. The situation was aggravated by depressed world commodity markets and an economic crisis in the West African Franc Zone.

After a return to relative domestic normality and de-valuation in 1994, the economy had a positive, if patchy, recovery. Real GDP increased by 16.7 percent in 1994 (albeit from a very low base), 6.8 percent in 1995, and by 9.7 percent in 1996. Growth fell back to 4.3 percent in 1997, but it became negative in 1998 (at-1.3 percent) due to the energy crisis. GDP growth rallied in 1999, on the back of a good harvest, to 3.5 percent. This improvement partly reflected higher phosphate production, but manufacturing, which is still state dominated, suffered due to weak demand and inefficiency.

On average, consumer inflation is normally around 5 percent or less. In 1994 the CFA devaluation caused inflation to rise to approximately 40 percent, although it fell back down over the next 2 years. Inflation then rose again to 8.7 percent in 1998 due to an increase in the value-added tax (VAT), higher oil and food prices, and increased government spending. By 2000, however, inflation had settled to the targeted 3 percent, and is expected to remain at this level.

POLITICS, GOVERNMENT, AND TAXATION

Politics have been dominated since 1967 by President Gnassingbé Eyadema, Africa's longest-serving head of state. Despite the introduction of a multi-party system in 1992 and elections in 1994, democracy still seems a long way off. The 1998 elections were boycotted and were deemed flawed by outside observers. A process of national reconciliation was forced on the president by the donor community, and talks with opposition groups resumed with a promise of a re-run of elections in 2000. Most bilateral and multilateral aid remains frozen, and the country has had a poor human rights record.

Togoland was originally a German protectorate from 1884 until the end of World War I. Britain and France split Togoland after the war and ruled under a League of Nations mandate. The western sector was controlled by Britain as part of the Gold Coast, which went on to become Ghana. French Togo became independent in 1960. The first leader, Sylvanus Olympio, was assassinated in 1963, and the army appointed a civilian, Nicolas Grunitzky, to rule. Four years later the army overthrew Grunitzky, and Colonel Eyadema took over control of the government. Eyadema formed the Rassemblement du Peuple Togolese (RPT) party in 1971 and drew civilian technocrats into government. Cabinet reshuffles in the late 1970s were designed to add legitimacy to the military regime.

A constitution based on universal suffrage was introduced in 1979, but the RPT remained the only legal party. After demonstrations and international pressure, Eyadema called a national conference in April 1991. A transitional government was appointed with opposition representation and was led by a lawyer, Joseph Koffigoh. However, the new government came under attack from the president's armed forces. Trade unions and opposition parties launched a general strike in 1992 which lasted for 9 months. A quarter of a million Togolese took shelter in neighboring countries from massacres perpetrated by the armed forces. The presidential election in 1993 was held amid further violence. The opposition boycotted the presidential election, only a third of the electorate voted, and all international observers (with the notable exception of France) rejected Eyadema's victory.

There was a legislative election in 1994. Two opposition parties gained 43 seats out of 81 in the assembly and hence the majority. The pro-Eyadema parties gained 37 seats, with Koffigoh's party winning only 1 seat. The major opposition party, the Union of Forces for Change (UFC), boycotted the election. Eyadema maintained supremacy by convincing the opposition leader, Edem Kodjo, to form an RPT-dominated government. In 1996 Kodjo was thrown out and a technocrat with links to Eyadema took control.

In the lead-up to the 1998 election there were opposition protests, social unrest, and military repression, although not nearly on the same scale as in the early 1990s. After chaos on election day, during which vote-counting stopped, the multi-party election was abandoned and Eyadema was proclaimed the winner. However, this led to violent demonstrations in Lomé. All 5 major opposition party leaders supported the claim of Gilchrist Olympio (son of the former leader and head of the UFC) that he won with 59 percent of votes. International observers condemned the result.

Legislative elections were held again in 1999. There is a National Assembly of 81 seats, with members elected for 5-year terms. The main opposition parties boycotted the election and the RPT gained all but 3 seats. There was much international pressure, including European Union threats to strike Togo off the Lomé Convention (aEuropean Union aid program which compensates certain African and Pacific countries when the prices of their export products fall on world markets). This led to the government and opposition having reconciliation talks, mediated by the European Union and other bodies. A framework agreement was signed in July 1999 to hold a new election by March 2000, with an independent electoral commission. Disagreements have delayed this election, which may not take place until late 2001.

Eyadema remains in power with the support of the army. He has stated that he will not run in the 2004 election, although he has been known in the past to change his mind.

Government revenue comprises around 30 percent of GNP. Of this, about a third comes from taxes on incomes, profits, and capital gains, and a further third from customs duties . Of the rest, about 15 percent comes from indirect taxes on goods and services, and 14 percent is generated by government enterprises (mainly the surpluses from the phosphate sector).

INFRASTRUCTURE, POWER, AND COMMUNICATIONS

Togo's main port and growing road transport sector have an important role in the sub-regional economy. The commercial and transport sector earns 35 percent of Togo's GDP. Togo has 9,600 kilometers (5,965 miles) of roads, 1,600 kilometers (994 miles) of which are paved. The World Bank has introduced a US$200 million transport infrastructure program, which was instituted in 1997. Parts of the 700 kilometer (435 miles) north-south road (the main road to Burkina Faso) have already been rehabilitated. The main east-west road which links Togo to Benin and Ghana also has money earmarked for rehabilitation. The railway network is limited and needs modernizing. There are 275 kilometers (171 miles) of track leading from Lomé to Blitta, and 262 kilometers (163 miles) from Kpalimé to Aného.

Lomé's deep-water port has benefitted from under-capacity in other countries and competes successfully within the region. In the 1970s the port grew rapidly, reflecting increased trade with Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali. Togo's social upheaval and a general regional economic downturn has led to a trade slump, with re-exports dropping from 2.7 million metric tons to 1.1 million metric tons in 1993. Under a government privatization program, new installations are planned, including computerization to speed up loading and unloading in order to make the port competitive.

Telecommunications are operated by Togo Telecom, which is a parastatal . Togo Telecom sought to increase the number of telephone lines in the country from 21,500 in 1998 to 30,400 in 2000. The company has been slated for privatization since 1997. One of its subsidiaries, Togocellulaire, manages the digital network, which had 6,000 subscribers by the end of 1998.

Apart from the government-run Togo Presse, there are several outspoken opposition newspapers. Since 1998 privately-owned television and radio stations have been allowed to operate alongside the parastatals.

In a US$400 million agreement with Nigeria, Ghana, and Benin in 1999, Togo hopes to find a solution to its energy supply problems. A gas pipeline will supply industry and power stations in recipient countries, which should reduce Togo's dependence on Ghana's unpredictable hydroelectricity supply. The pipeline should be in operation by 2002, and is funded by ECOWAS, the World Bank, the United States, and Italy, and will be managed by Chevron Oil of the United States. The problems of Togo's dependency on Ghana for energy were highlighted in 1998, when it received less than 5 percent of its requirements for electricity, severely disrupting the economy.

CEET, the Togolese electricity company, still relies heavily on Ghana. The hydroelectric dam that is jointly owned by Togo and Benin has produced output only sporadically. In 1996 CEET produced 35.1 million kilowatt-hours,

hours, but 349.3 million kilowatt hours (kWh) were required. CEET has also been earmarked for privatization.

ECONOMIC SECTORS

The agricultural sector provided 42.1 percent of Togo's GDP in 1997, and was responsible for 65 percent of employment. Core food crop production and livestock rearing make up most of the sector's output. Togo is self-sufficient in beans, ground nuts, yams, cassava, and sweet potatoes. Roughly 20 percent of cereals are imported. Export crops—including cotton, coffee, and cocoa—account for 20 percent of agricultural output.

The industrial sector is dominated primarily by phosphate production, which is the principal foreign exchange earner. The sector provided 21 percent of GDP in 1997 and employed 5 percent of the active population. Industry in Togo is also involved in agro-processing, construction, and energy. The government has recently set up a small Export Processing Zone in Lomé, which is designed to lure foreign companies who can take advantage of relaxed labor laws and hold large foreign exchange accounts.

The services sector (which includes commerce, transport, and tourism) provided 37 percent of GDP and 30 percent of employment in 1997.

AGRICULTURE

Agriculture is the most important sector to most Togolese. It employs two-thirds of the active population, who predominantly work on small land holdings. Food crops (mainly cassava, yams, maize, millet, and sorghum) account for two-thirds of production, and are mostly used domestically. Togo's cash crops are mainly cocoa, coffee, cotton, and to a lesser extent, palm oil. These cash crops provide a valuable return for small farmers, and they provide 40 percent of exports. Some foodstuffs need to be imported. The main imported foodstuff is rice, although production has increased 6-fold since the mid-1980s. Production increased by 9.1 percent in 1999 due to good weather, although depressed world prices for exports affected Togo (especially in cotton).

Agricultural exports are dominated by cotton. The cotton production sector employs 230,000 people, predominantly small farmers. Cultivation has expanded rapidly since the mid-1980s. Output has quadrupled from the 1985-1986 season to 200,000 metric tons in 1998, stabilizing at 190,000 metric tons in the 1999-2000 season. About 163,420 hectares were under cotton cultivation during the 1999-2000 season. Soil degradation is likely to become a problem.

Most farmers are under contract to the state-owned marketing board, Sotoco. In 1995 Sotoco lost its monopoly on processing and the external marketing of cotton, and a private company, Sicot, was given export and processing rights. Sotoco still has a dominant purchasing position and is the sole provider of fertilizers and pesticides. Several new ginning plants opened in the late 1990s, and they should be running at full capacity by early 2001.

Cocoa and coffee production appear less important than cotton, but unrecorded cross-border trade distorts the figures. Togo's production of these 2 commodities is small compared to its neighbors, producing 13,000 metric tons of coffee and 9,000 metric tons of cocoa in 1998. The state-owned OPAT was in charge of marketing, processing, and exporting until 1996, when private companies were introduced.

INDUSTRY

Togo is the world's fourth-largest phosphate producer. Phosphate is a mineral used to produce fertilizers. Reserves are estimated at 260 million metric tons of first-class phosphate and 1 billion metric tons of carbonate phosphate. Deposits were found in 1952 not far from Lomé. The good geological characteristics and geographical position led to a low cost for extraction.

Established in 1974, the parastatal OTP has a monopoly on phosphates. Annual production was around 3.3 million metric tons in 2000, and OTP employed 2,200 people. After expansion during the 1980s, the industry suffered in the 1990s. In 1993 production was only 1.79 million metric tons, and prices bottomed at US$33 per metric ton, putting the company on the verge of bankruptcy. The devaluation of the CFA franc in 1994 restored the profitability of the phosphate industry. In 1997 output was 2.69 million metric tons, which realized US$110 million, though production fell in 1998 to 2.24 million metric tons. Although the industry looks good in the short term, it is likely to face growing international competition, especially as world phosphate fertilizer demand is falling. After World Bank negotiations, 40 percent of the OTP is to be privatized, mainly to outside investors.

The overvaluation of the CFA franc in the early 1990s hit the industrial sector hard. In addition, it was not helped by the political instability of the early 1990s, when industry's GDP contribution fell by a fifth. Once order was restored, and following the devaluation in 1994, industry's GDP contribution grew by 26 percent, and 20 percent in 1995, before settling to around 5 percent growth in 1997. Industrial activity recovered in 1998 after 2 bad years, despite the 1994 devaluation boost. The privatized construction sector led the recovery. In November 1999, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the agency of the World Bank which lends to the private sector , announced a US$6 million loan to the building materials sector.

A duty-free "Export Processing Zone" was launched in 1989, and now includes 41 industrial units, which involve a US$50 million investment and 7,000 new jobs. It has attracted international interest, predominantly French, and advantageous terms for foreign investors if they export 80 percent of their production and give jobs to Togolese.

SERVICES

A recent World Bank report shed doubt on the stability of Togo's banks, once thought to be amongst the most stable in West Africa, following the crises of the 1990s, during which period many banks suspended activities. The commercial banks, already faced with falling deposits and increased lending, also had to absorb public sector deficits in the early 1990s. Weak capital flows and stagnant exports led to a US$24 million decrease in bank assets by 1990-94. Credit grew by US$12 million in the same period, reflecting increased lending, while the government indebtedness increased by US$19 million. This meant that banks had to borrow heavily from BCEAO. The 2 state-owned banks fared the worst, and accounted for 74 percent of all lending and 62.5 percent of all deposits. The rest of the sector is shared between a variety of foreign banks, including French and Belgian interests.

In 1993, the hotel industry included 4,163 beds and employed 1,309 people. During the problems of the 1990s, hotel occupancy dropped to less than 20 percent of capacity. International arrivals halved, and visitors stayed on average only 3.5 nights. The 80,000 arrivals were a record in 1996, although many of these were business travelers and returning Togolese. Several state-owned hotels have been slated for privatization, and the government has allowed foreign leasing of the more prestigious hotels.

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

For the past 20 years Togo has had a net trade deficit , reaching $50 million in 1999, with exports at US$400 million and imports at US$450 million. Exports and imports both contracted in 1992 and 1993, but in 1994 the currency devaluation boosted agricultural exports, which meant that the trade deficit fell to $37 million from US$111 million in 1993. The main destinations for exports in 1994 were France, Benin, Ghana, and Canada, while imports came from France, Germany, Côte d'Ivoire, and China.

In 1998 trade revenue from cotton and cocoa fell, despite an increase in the volume exported, due to unfavorable world prices. However, phosphate exports increased both in terms of volume and revenue collected.

Re-exports increased in 1998 (as in every year since 1994), and accounted for 20 percent of exports in 1998. France is historically the main importer of goods, but the suspension of aid led to a decrease in French imports and an increase in Chinese imports. However, the published data underestimate cross-border trade with Benin, Ghana, and Nigeria, much of which goes unrecorded.

MONEY

Togo is part of the 8-member Union Economique et Monetaire Ouest-Africaine (UEMOA) and uses the CFA franc. The BCEAO issues currency notes and regulates credit expansion throughout the region. The CFA franc was pegged to the French franc at a 50:1 exchange rate from 1948, but was overvalued in the late 1980s; the 1994 devaluation dropped the value to a 100:1 exchange rate. With France having joined the European Monetary Union, the CFA franc is now valued at CFA Fr 655.959 to 1 euro.

POVERTY AND WEALTH

Togo is a poor country; GDP per capita stood at $1,700 in 1999, and 32 percent of the population was thought to be living below the poverty line (according to 1987-89 estimates).

Education provisions have deteriorated in Togo in recent years. The one university, the University of Benin, was established in 1970. Originally designed for 6,000 students, it currently is trying to cope with 17,000, which has led to many campus demonstrations. A second university is planned in Clara, Eyadema's hometown, but its development is at a standstill due to the political situation.

Education has suffered during the 1990s due to demographic pressures and the freeze on hiring civil servants. A World Bank-sponsored scheme to provide 6,000 primary-level educators is under way. Despite these problems, Togo has traditionally had good education standards for a sub-Saharan African country. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) put adult literacy in Togo at 53.2 percent in 1997, with 82.3 percent of primary school age children attending school and 58.3 percent of children of the appropriate age attending secondary school. The government provided 24.7 percent of the money required for education. However, gender imbalances are rife throughout the education system. Roughly 43 percent of males and only 31 percent of females are literate in Togo, according to the U.S. Department of State.

Togolese health care has struggled due to a lack of resources and population growth. The number of AIDS cases is expected to increase up to 2005, when the number of new cases is expected to stabilize and then begin a slow fall, although this depends on the success of AIDS education programs. In 1993 there were 6 doctors and 31 nurses per 100,000 population, and this figure is unlikely to change in the near future. Regional disparities are huge, as 50 percent of all medical staff work in the capital. Infant mortality stands at 78 deaths per 1,000 live births, and 125 children per 1,000 die before the age of 5. The maternal mortality rate stands at 640 per 100,000. In 1997 there were 185 AIDS cases per 100,000.

WORKING CONDITIONS

A Labor Tribunal is provided for in Togo's judicial system. The Collectif des Syndicates Independents (CSI) was founded in 1992 and is a coordinating body for labor organizations. The other main trade union in Togo is the Confederation Nationale des Travailleurs de Togo (CNTT), which was affiliated with the RPT party until 1991. The trade unions can be militant in Togo, as was shown in a 9-month general strike in 1992.

In the 1990 budget a mere US$1.2 million was spent on social security and welfare. Togo has no minimum wage. The labor force was estimated at 2 million in 1998, of which 40 percent were women. Unemployment figures have little significance in Togo. There are very few people with no work at all, but few people work at what is considered full employment , and much work is informal or subsistence labor. There are no unemployment benefits, and those who do not work tend to rely on support from charities or their families. Many people would like a modern sector job, but eke out an existence on family farms or in casual informal sector activities in the urban areas.

COUNTRY HISTORY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1884-1919. Togoland is a German protectorate.

1919. Britain and France take Togoland from Germany during World War I; they split the country—with France ruling French Togoland—and rule under a League of Nations mandate.

1960. On April 27, the newly named Republic of Togo becomes independent, and Sylvanus Olympio is elected president under a provisional constitution.

1963. President Olympio is assassinated by army officers, and Nicolas Grunitzky leads a provisional government as prime minister and, later, as president.

1967. President Grunitzky's government is overthrown by the military, and Colonel Etienne Gnassingbé Eyadema takes control.

1972. Eyadema is reelected to the presidency in a national referendum in which he is the only candidate.

1979. Eyadema is reelected once more in elections in which he is the only candidate. A new constitution provides for a national assembly which will consult with the president, but Eyadema holds all the power.

1991. Facing pressure from pro-democracy protestors, Eyadema agrees to a transitional government leading up to free elections. Kokou Joseph Koffigoh is selected as prime minister, and Eyadema's powers are limited.

1992. Fearing that Eyadema will not relinquish power, trade unions and opposition parties launch a general strike, which lasts for 9 months and decimates Togo's economy.

1993. Presidential elections are held, but alleged fraud keeps many opposition parties and voters away. Eyadema wins with 96 percent of the votes and declares the success of democracy in Togo.

1994. Multiparty legislative elections are held, giving parties opposed to Eyadema's RPT control in the legislature. Edem Kodjo is named prime minister but has little power in a country that is still dominated by Eyadema.

1994. The CFA franc is devalued, leading to a surge in exports for Togo.

1998. Presidential elections are again boycotted by the opposition and deemed flawed by outside observers. Eyadema retains presidency.

1999. CFA franc becomes tied to the euro. Legislative elections are won by Eyadema's RPT.

FUTURE TRENDS

It is very difficult to have economic progress without a platform of political stability, as both domestic and foreign investors are unwilling to risk their resources unless they are confident that they will be secure. In the Togolese context, the lack of consensus over the operation of the political system between the government and the opposition parties is the main worry for international donors and the business community. Until these matters are resolved, Togo cannot expect to make progress in improving the living standards of its people.

Disagreements between the opposition and the ruling parties may lead to such a delay that new legislative elections (to replace the elections in 1999, widely seen as flawed) may not be carried out until the end of 2001. European Union aid will resume if new elections are seen to be free and transparent. It is likely that the United States and the IMF will follow suit. The government plans to restore stability to public finances, including the banking and financial sectors, and to revive the privatization process. Real GDP is expected to grow to 3.5 percent in 2001, and 3.8 percent in 2002, thanks to external assistance. Assuming a satisfactory harvest and a downturn in oil prices, inflation is forecast to fall to 2 percent in 2001 and 1.5 percent in 2002. Aid inflow means Togo's economy can be expected to improve between 2001 and 2002.

Following international pressure, a national independent electoral commission will oversee the 2001 election. The president has strengthened his international position through the presidency of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). A joint UN and OAU investigation is underway into the murder of political opponents in the 1998 election.

Though there has been little increase in revenue, a decrease in public expenditures has resulted in a lower deficit. In 2000 the economy was recovering from the 1998 recession , helped by an agricultural upturn and by the fact that the OAU summit was held in Lomé. Cotton output is estimated to have fallen to 110,000 metric tons in 2000 due to uneven rainfall, but cereal and coffee production both increased in the 2000-2001 season. The new Togo, Benin, and Nigeria power scheme should improve Togo's power situation.

DEPENDENCIES

Togo has no territories or colonies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Economist Intelligence Unit. Country Profile: Togo. London: Economist Intelligence Unit, 2001.

Hodd, Michael. The Economies of Africa. Dartmouth: Aldershot,1991.

Togo. <http://www.republicoftogo.com/english/index.htm>.Accessed September 2001.

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. World Factbook 2000. <http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html>. Accessed August 2001.

U.S. Department of State. Background Notes: Togo, October 1997. <http://www.state.gov/www/background_notes/togo_9710_bgn.html>. Accessed September 2001.

U.S. Department of State. FY 2000 Country Commercial Guide: Togo. <http://www.state.gov/www/about_state/business/com_guides/2001/africa/index.html>. Accessed September 2001.

Welcome to the Republic of Togo (official home page). <http://www.afrika.com/togo>. Accessed September 2001.

—Jack Hodd

CAPITAL:

Lomé.

MONETARY UNIT:

Communauté Financiére Africaine franc (CFA Fr). The CFA franc is tied to the French franc at an exchange rate of CFA Fr50 to Fr1. One CFA franc equals 100 centimes. There are coins of 5, 10, 50, 100, and 500 CFA francs, and notes of 500, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, and 10,000 CFA francs.

CHIEF EXPORTS:

Ginned cotton, coffee, cocoa, phosphate.

CHIEF IMPORTS:

Consumer goods, foodstuffs, petroleum products.

GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT:

US$8.6 billion (purchasing power parity, 1999 est.).

BALANCE OF TRADE:

Exports: US$400 million (f.o.b., 1999 est.). Imports: US$450 million (f.o.b., 1999 est.).

TOGO

Republic of Togo

Major Cities:
Lome

Other Cities:
Aného, Atakpamé, Dapaong, Kpalimé, Mango, Sokodé, Tsévié

EDITOR'S NOTE

This chapter was adapted from the Department of State Post Report dated September 1995. Supplemental material has been added to increase coverage of minor cities, facts have been updated, and some material has been condensed. Readers are encouraged to visit the Department of State's web site at http://travel.state.gov/ for the most recent information available on travel to this country.

INTRODUCTION

The West African Republic of TOGO , which had existed as part of the German protectorate of Togoland, as a League of Nations mandate and, later, as a United Nations trust territory under French administration, has been independent since 1960. Four years earlier, Togo had gained autonomy within the French Union.

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to explore the Togolese coast, arriving late in the 15th century. Between 1600 and 1800, Brazilian, British, and other slave traders repeatedly and tragically raided the region, and Togo became known as the Slave Coast.

This small republic gives the visitor an unusual, first-hand look at developing Africa. Densely populated by African standards, it has a variety of cultures among its more than 35 ethnic groups, many of whom still follow their African traditions and customs.

MAJOR CITIES

Lome

Lome, the capital and chief commercial center of Togo, is on the Atlantic coast at Togo's extreme southwest corner. Part of the city lies on a mile-wide sandbar that rises 15-20 feet above the sea. The center of the city is a 20-minute walk from the Ghanaian border. Lome shares the climate of Togo's southern zone, and its sea breeze blows pleasantly all year. The city proper has 658,000 residents, and the greater area has a population of 727,000.

The major central thoroughfares are lined with small shops, occasional parks, and countless street vendors. In the Grand Marche, a bustling three-story building, vendors sell food, cloth (largely wax-print cottons locally made or imported from England and the Netherlands), housewares, small fetish objects, and almost anything else found in Lome. The railroad, as well as some buildings and roads still in use today, were built by the Germans.

Only main city streets have lights. Some streets are paved; others are of red laterite earth and sand—dusty in the dry season, muddy when it rains, and usually full of potholes.

Most buildings are cement over soft-brick or concrete blocks. However, traditional rectangular one-or two-room mud-brick with corrugated metal or palm-thatch roofs built along the walls of a compound are still common. Residential areas with large houses include Lome proper, the suburb of Tokoin above the lagoons, Kodjoviakope, and a housing project located near the University of Benin.

The larger businesses are, for the most part, controlled by the French. A small but economically important Lebanese population also engages in commerce. Lome has 11 resident foreign diplomatic missions, 8 honorary consulates, U.N. and other country aid organizations, and regional banks.

Food

Lome has a good supply of fresh foods, although supply can be seasonal. Local vegetables include leaf lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, green beans, sweet peppers, cabbage, eggplant, spring onions, onions, carrots, palm hearts, potatoes, sweet yams, African yams, hot peppers, mint, parsley, and several other herbs. The local fruits available are avocado, lemon, lime, orange, pineapple, banana, papaya, guava, grapefruit, cantaloupe, watermelon, coconut, mango, and passion fruit. Imported apples, pears, kiwi, and a few other European fruits can sometimes be found. Local fruits and vegetables are generally available in open markets throughout the year. Imported fresh fruits and vegetables are sometimes available in supermarkets at high prices.

Fresh meat, imported and domestic, includes beef, veal, pork, lamb and poultry. Locally made and imported French and German sausage, pate, ham and other prepared meats are available in the butcher section of local supermarkets. Duck, rabbit and guinea fowl are available at the local market, as well as the local delicacy, bush rat or agouti. Fresh fish, shrimp, lobster, mussels, hard-shell crabs and other seafood are sold in season either in the local market or in one supermarket.

Imported fresh foods arrive by air every week and some by ship every 2 weeks. These stocks include meat, cheese, fish, vegetables (artichokes, mushrooms, celery, endive, and lettuce), and fresh fruits. A limited variety of wines, herbs, and spices is imported, as are specialty items like canned Chinese and Lebanese foods. Prices for imported items are high. Imported frozen foods are available at several locations, include meats, poultry, fish, fruits, vegetables, prepared foods, and desserts.

Imported UHT and powdered milk are readily available, as are puddings and whipping cream. Local milk products such as yoghurt and sour cream can be found in the supermarkets. A local Danish-run factory produces ice cream. Some better quality, but very high-priced, imported brands are also available in supermarkets. Good French breads and fair pastries are made in Lome.

Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, soda water, tonic and a variety of other local soft drinks is bottled here. A good beer is also bottled by a German-established factory.

Most Americans do their shopping at one or more of the three modern supermarkets in Lome. In the heart of the business district is a lively congested Grand Marche, a three-story, open-air market where Togolese sell their fresh produce, fish and other foodstuffs. Clothes, household items, glass beads, wax cloths, and an endless variety of goods can be found. Many intriguing items can be discovered on a walking tour of the central business area, which abounds in small shops selling a wide diversity of items. Every "quartier" has its own open market. Many small provision stores, mostly run by members of the Indian community, are located around town. Necessary items are rarely all available in one place and sometimes not at the expected place, so shopping requires several trips and lots of time.

Clothing

Men: Dress is less formal than in Washington. Safari suits or slacks and shirt combinations may be worn during office hours. Formal clothing (light-weight dinner jacket and black dress trousers) is optional. Sport shirts and slacks or safari suits suffice for most social engagements. Cotton or cotton polyester blend slacks and short-sleeved shirts are advisable for road travel. All clothes should be light-weight and washable since dry cleaning services are expensive and limited. Clothing wears out quickly due to frequent washing. All synthetic fabrics are less comfortable in the heat and humidity than cotton, linen or cotton-blend fabrics.

Women: Warm-weather washable dresses, blouses, and slacks or skirts are the norm. Simple dresses are worn at daytime and evening affairs. Cocktail dresses are often worn, and more formal long gowns are worn on few occasions. A light wrap or shawl may be useful at night during the cooler rainy season. Outdoor clothing and sometimes a sweater are convenient.

A limited supply of imported dress materials, as well as extensive supply of African-style cotton prints, both imported and locally manufactured, are available in the market area. Dressmakers do adequate work with supervision. A few expensive boutiques carry dresses and fancy dresses and accessories. Hats, gloves, and stockings are seldom worn. Lingerie in cotton or the cooler synthetic fabrics is usually not available. Walking on Lome's sandy streets is easier with sensible shoes. Several pairs of sandals are suggested.

Children: Bring a good supply of outdoor, hot-weather washable children's clothes, underwear, and shoes. Some sandals, underwear, and clothes are sold locally. Local seamstresses do a fair job making children's clothing.

Bring plenty of suitable sportswear and equipment for the entire family, including tennis or golf clothes and equipment as these are either expensive or not available locally.

Supplies and Services

Supplies: Consider bringing your own brand of toiletries, cosmetics, medicines, etc., as many American brand products are not available.

Basic Services: In general, community services are not well developed, and materials are often not available.

Dry-cleaning is not recommended except at the Hotel 2 Fevrier or Sarakawa, and at one dry-cleaning shop in town. Several beauty shops are recommended, as are several barbers in Lome. Some Togolese barbers will come to your home for a moderate fee. Shoe repair is satisfactory, but the materials used are usually of poor quality. Tailors or dressmakers do adequate-to-good work. Wicker and wooden furniture can be made locally and wears well in the humid climate. Due to high humidity, mildew is a problem.

Religious Activities

Baptist, Seventh Day Adventist, Roman Catholic, Church of Christ, Islamic, Lutheran, Protestant, Pentecostal and Methodist places of worship can be found in Lome. Most services are in French and Ewe and occasional Protestant services are in English. An English-language non-denominational Christian service meets every Sunday at the Hotel 2 Fevrier and an English-Language Roman Catholic mass is celebrated each Sunday at the cathedral in Lome.

Education

The American International School in Lome, established in 1967, follows the general academic curriculum for American schools. The private, coeducational international school, encompassing pre-school through eighth grade, is currently applying for accreditation. The school year extends from September to June. The school day begins at 7:30 a.m. and ends at 1:00 p.m. Instruction is in English. The school is housed in a large two-story building, and has a library, science room, and music room. In addition to basic academic subjects, AIS's curriculum includes French, art, music, drama, P.E. and health.

None of the several Togolese primary and secondary schools in Lome are recommended. Lome has one very good French Government supported lycee. The school ranges from kindergarten through the end of secondary school and prepares students for the French university entrance examination. The school program is identical to that of schools in France. Instruction is conducted in French; inability to speak the language presents a major drawback for all levels except grade 1. Several privately-run French-language nursery schools for 2-5 year olds are open most of the year.

In addition to the American and French schools, the privately-owned International Primary School offers an accredited American-based curriculum in English for children 2-12. The British school of Lome offers 3-16 year olds instruction in English following the British system.

Recreation and Social Life

Lome is a generally pleasant place and offers the opportunity for year-round sports activities. Many Americans enjoy touring in-country and taking short trips to the several neighboring countries which can be easily and quickly reached by road.

Sports

Swimming is possible in hotel pools. Due to the heavy surf and a dangerous undertow, saltwater swimming is limited to certain beaches. The sea and lagoons offer limited fishing. Lac Togo, located about 20 minutes from Lome, has sailing, wind-surfing, and pedal boating.

Several tennis clubs, including hotel clubs that Americans can join, are available, as well as volleyball, badminton, and table tennis facilities. The golf club has a nine-hole course about 8 miles from Lome. There is a riding club at the Hotel Sarakawa, and another near the airport. There are several fitness centers offering karate, weight lifting, body building, aerobics, and sports therapy massage.

Soccer is the principal spectator sport. Tennis, basketball, volleyball, and handball are other sports that are enjoyed by both Americans and Togolese. Sporting stores are few and merchandise that is available is expensive.

Touring and Outdoor Activities

In Lome itself, tourist attractions include the National Museum and the Village Artisanal Center where handcrafts are made and sold.

Outside of Lome, you may join tours of Togo and Benin arranged by hotels for their guests or by the Bureau of Tourism. Most in-country touring is done individually by private car. A main road extends from Lome northward to the Burkina Faso border. The road is paved and suitable for motoring, but the driver must be alert for animals and people on the road. Daylight travel is best.

The paved coastal road from the Ghana to Benin borders provides a continuous view of beaches, coconut palms, and small, scattered fishing villages. About 18 miles east of Lome and a short distance inland is Lac Togo, a lagoon with a hotel, restaurant, bar, swimming pool, and boat dock next door. Residents visit the Lac for a mild change in scenery; visitors from neighboring countries appreciate its French cuisine. On the hillside bordering the lake is Togoville, a small village that was the first permanent German settlement in Togo. It can be reached by car or pirogue.

An automobile trip to Kpalime and its environs can include the Centre Artisanal in Kloto, the Blind school and the Chateau Viale, which offers a mountain view and an occasional glimpse of Lake Volta.

Two hours beyond Kpalime brings you to the Akowa waterfall, just 7 miles from Badou. The Akowa waterfall, 35 meters high, descends vertically from an underground spring. It is accessible to the reasonably hardy. Following an animal trail, under vines and over rotting logs, one must hike for nearly one half hour before reaching the allegedly therapeutic falls. The scenery is beautiful. Guides must be hired at the village. The trip can be made in one long day, or visitors can stay at a hotel in Badou.

North of Atakpame, you journey more deeply into Togo's traditional culture. Acceptable but very modest hotels at Atakpame and Sokode provide overnight lodging. Many visit the game park at Fazao in central Togo, which suffers from a lack of wildlife at present, however. The hotel at Lama-Kara offers good accommodations and a swimming pool. Further north, the traditional African-architecture accommodations in the Keran reserve are adequate.

Places of interest in the neighboring country of Benin (also French-speaking) are within easy driving distance from Lome and include: Ouidah, the center of voodoo and the site of an old Portuguese fortress whose museum houses relics of the slave trade and illustrates cultural exchanges between Brazil and Africa; Cotonou, Benin's capital and major city; the villages of Lac Nakous and Ganvie, built on stilts in the middle of the lake; Porto Novo, 19 miles from Cotonou, which has a museum of handicrafts; and Abome, a day's drive from Lome and the seat of the ancient kingdom of Abomey (1600-1900), with an interesting historical museum in a former palace.

Entertainment

For those who like to dine out, Lome has a number of good restaurants offering French cuisine as well as Chinese, German, Italian, Lebanese, Ethiopian, Vietnamese, and traditional Togolese dishes. Restaurants are comparable to those in U.S. cities. Lome has many night clubs and discotheques, including those at the major hotels. Saturdays are disco nights in Lome, and discos are generally crowded and lively, with a variety of music and atmosphere. The Hotel Palm Beach, the Sarakawa, the 2 Fevrier, and the Hotel de la Paix all have casinos with tables for Blackjack and Roulette.

The German, French, and American Cultural Centers are active in Lome, offering scheduled monthly activities, as well as occasional special programs such as jazz and classical music concerts, art exhibits, and other cultural offerings.

Foreign films and a few American films (with the soundtrack dubbed in French) are shown at the cinemas. Sound equipment, projectors, seats and overall cleanliness could be better at some.

The USIS library, available to the public, is well stocked with American periodicals, books in French and English, and some recordings of American music. The German Cultural Center has books available for public use. The British School has a large book and video (PAL system) library available for those who have children enrolled in their school or otherwise sponsored. Bookshops in Lome are well supplied with French books and periodicals but quite limited in English-language periodicals and books. Avid readers should bring a supply of reading material and arrange to receive subsequent mailings from one or two book clubs.

Other activities available in Lome include dance classes and lessons and the International Choir.

Since both Accra and Cotonou are within 2 1/2 hours of Lome, Americans often visit these cities for a day or weekend of shopping and sightseeing.

Social Activities

Among Americans: The home is the center of evening activities such as cocktail parties, barbecues, and card games. Other social activities may also include one or two dances a year, occasional concerts, and national day celebrations.

International Contacts: Brazil, China, Egypt, France, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Nigeria, Libya, North Korea and Zaire have embassies in Lome, and several countries are represented by Honorary Consuls. The U.N. has a resident representative and personnel from various nations working in Togo. The European Union is represented. Several nations have technical assistance teams. Rotary, Lions, Zonta and Soroptomist Clubs are active. A newly formed International Women's Association provides opportunities to make friends quickly with women of other nationalities and engage in charitable work.

OTHER CITIES

ANÉHO , 26 miles east of Lomé, dates to the slave-trade period. Later, the Germans and French made the town Togo's capital. Aného is an important intellectual center for Togo, although it hasn't grown as rapidly as other cities in Togo. Still standing are many of the thick-walled colonial homes built by the Germans. The current population is about 25,000.

The town of ATAKPAMÉ was settled in the nineteenth century by the Ewe and Yoruba peoples. It is situated in an important cotton-growing area, and serves as a major trading center for cocoa and coffee. The current population is 62,000.

Situated in northern Togo, DAPAONG is renowned for its temperate climate. People from all over Togo and Burkina Faso come to this city of 30,000 for the festive marketplaces and local dances.

KPALIMÉ (often written Palime) is Togo's cocoa city, about 65 miles northwest of Lomé. Coffee and oil palms are cultivated here. Kpalimé is a major center for commercial trade in Togo. Scenic areas surround Kpalimé, including the massive Mount Aghou and Kpime and Kolme waterfalls. The Pottery Centre is a haven for ceramics lovers. The population is about 72,000 (2002).

Inhabited by the Anoufo people, MANGO is on the Oti River in northern Togo. It is the center for the cattle and peanut trade in the region and currently has a population of 23,000.

In the central region lies SOKODÉ , the nation's second largest city. Because of its location in the middle of the forest, hunting is popular. The city is a major commercial trade center for the country's northern regions. Industrial activities include cotton ginning and sugar processing. Muslim holidays are celebrated in Sokodé, especially Adossa, or Festival of the Knives. The population is approximately 82,000 (2002).

Located 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Lomé TSÉVIÉ is home to the Ewe people. The town is an important palm oil processing center and a major commercial trading area. In 2002, Tsévié had a population of roughly 36,000.

COUNTRY PROFILE

Geography and Climate

Togo, a narrow country of 21,853 square miles, about the size of West Virginia, stretches 370 miles from north to south and averages 56 miles in width. It is bounded on the west by Ghana, on the east by Benin, on the north by Burkina Faso, and on the south by the Bight of Benin on the Atlantic Ocean.

Brackish lagoons cross the country to the southeast, separating the mile-wide sandbar along the Bight of Benin from the geographical mainland. To the southwest a low plateau gradually rises, followed by a southwest-northeast mountain range that is from 2,300 to 3,300 feet high. Another plateau lies to the north of the mountain chain. An open savanna then unfolds and extends to the Burkina Faso border.

Togo is mostly flat. Much of the land lies at an altitude of less than 660 feet; scarcely one-sixth of the land exceeds 1,300 feet. Togo has no navigable rivers, but several rivers have the potential for irrigation, which the Togolese are beginning to exploit. The country's most fertile areas are in and around the mountain range; the northern savannas are the poorest.

Savanna-type vegetation dominates. Large trees, including the baobab, common in the south, are rarer in the north. Mangrove and reed swamps dot the coastal region, and coconut plantations grow along the sea.

Some deer, antelope, buffalo, wart hogs, and hippopotamuses roam the north. Togo's most common animal life includes monkeys, snakes, lizards, and birds. Chickens, sheep, goats, and a few other domestic animals are kept in the city as well as the rural areas.

There are protected forest game reserves at Fazao and Keran, in the central and savanna regions.

The country is divided climatically into southern and northern zones. The southern tropical temperatures fluctuate between 70°F and 89°F, with February and March the hottest months, and June, July, and August the coolest. Humidity is high (80%-90%) most of the year. The major dry season extends from the end of November to the end of March; August and early September are also sometimes quite dry. The two wet seasons are from the end of March to July, with maximum rainfall in June, and from September to mid-November, with the greatest rainfall in October. The coastal area receives the least rainfall; the region of Kpalime, about 65 miles inland, receives the most. Equatorial conditions in the mountains of Togo support the country's only rain forest.

Northern temperatures fluctuate between 65°F and over 100°F, and humidity is less severe than in the south. The northern zone has one rainy and one dry season. In December-January, a cool, dry, dust-laden "harmattan" wind from the Sahara sweeps across the land.

Population

The population of Togo was estimated at 5.2 million persons in 2001. Lome, the capital city, has a population of about 727,000. Other major population centers are Sokode, 82,000; Kara, 49,000; Atakpame, 62,000; Kpalime, 72,000; Tsévié, 36,000; Dapaong, 30,000; Bassar, 30,000; Aneho, 25,000; and Mango, 23,000.

In Togo, 59 percent of the population are animists; 29 percent are Christians; and 12 percent are Muslims. In the south, most of the Ewe, Guen, Ouatchi, Akposso, and Ife-Ana ethnic groups are Catholics and Protestants. In the north, most of the Kabiye, Losso, and Lamba are Catholics and Protestants, but the Cotocoli, Bassar, Konkomba, Tchamba, Anoufo, and Moba are primarily Muslims.

Although Togo has some 37 different ethnic groups, three major ethnic groups dominate the population. These are the Ewe, the Kabiye, and the Mina groups. The Ewe group includes the subgroups of Ouatchi and Guen. They live in the Maritime region and a large part of the plateau region. The Kabiye group includes the Cotocoli and Losso groups. The Kabiye are mostly located in the Kara region. The Mina group is dominated by the Moba, followed by the Gourma, the Bassar, and the Konkomba groups. The home area of these groups is the savanna region.

Togo's prehistory and early history were marked by the migrations of various African peoples: prehistoric Sangoan hunting and gathering tribes who settled in central and southern Togo; people from the Sudan-Nile region who came to the north in the 10th-13th centuries; and the Ewes and other tribes from Nigeria who migrated between the 14th and 16th centuries; the Mina and other peoples from Ghana; and the Cotocoli and other ethnic groups from Burkina Faso who came in the 17th century. The boundaries of these kingdoms extended beyond present-day Togo.

The Portuguese, the first Europeans to explore the Togolese coast, came in the late 1400s. Between 1600 and 1800, Brazilian, British, and other slave traders raided the coast and later the interior, and Togo became part of what was known as the Slave Coast. German traders and missionaries reached Togo in the mid-1800s. In 1884, Germany set up a small coastal protectorate, gradually moved inland, and developed the social and economic infrastructure so successfully that Togo became its sole self-supporting colony. From 1885 to 1914. Lome was the administrative and commercial center of German Togo (called Togoland), which included what is now Togo and the Volta region (now part of Ghana). In 1914, Britain and France jointly invaded and took control of Togo. After World War I, Togo came under a League of Nations mandate and was divided into British and French Togo. The U.N. took over the mandate in 1946. Social and economic repercussions of the British-French trusteeship continue to be felt, particularly the splitting of the Ewe and other tribes and their territories.

In late 1956, French Togo voted for status as an autonomous republic within the French Union; the British-ruled people of the Volta region opted to join Ghana, which became independent in 1957. On April 27, 1960, French Togo gained full independence from France.

Although Western contact has affected the life and outlook in the towns, much of the countryside remains less affected. Traditional animist culture, and the customs peculiar to it, continues to strongly influence the Westernized population. Polygamy is widely practiced in rural areas and even in Lome and other towns. As in the rest of Africa, Togolese life centers on the extended family, which includes those far from the immediate family circle. Loyalties reach out beyond the family to the tribe. Traditional mud-brick homes and communal wells give way, in urban areas, to more modern housing and facilities. However, walled courtyards as centers of family life, cooking with charcoal or wood fires, and communal piped-water taps with the customary social life they create, are still common. Complex traditional women's hairstyles and dress for both men and women provide interesting contrasts to European fashions.

Western culture and Christianity have had the greatest influence in the south, the area that has been the source of most government officials, teachers, journalists, office workers, artisans, and traders. Recently, however, more northerners have become civil servants and professionals through an active government program to rectify past disparities.

The literacy rate in Togo is 51 percent. There are about 50 African dialects spoken. French is the official language, as well as the language of commerce. Some people also speak English or German. The government has a policy of developing two national languages—Kabiye and Ewe—as languages of instruction. Some broadcasting (both radio and TV) is done in these languages, and one page in the daily newspaper is devoted to news in each of these languages. The principal native languages are Ewe and Mina in the South, and Kabiye and Hausa in the North.

Public Institutions

Togo's first President, Sylvanus Olympio, was overthrown and killed in a coup d'etat on January 13, 1963, in which the current President, General Gnassingbe Eyadema, participated. After 4 years of rule under civilian President Grunitsky, Togolese President Eyadema came to power as a result of a bloodless coup d'etat staged on January 13, 1967. The country's constitution and National Assembly were abolished, and the President ruled by decree. In 1969, the Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais (RPT) was founded as the sole political party, with Eyadema as its President and founder. However, beginning in late 1990, strike actions and demonstrations led by students and taxi drivers began a movement that demonstrated the Togolese wish for a more democratic form of government.

A transitional government was named in August 1991 to lead Togo through constitutional, local, legislative, and presidential elections. The transition process was not smooth. Demonstrations, an opposition-sponsored political general strike from November 1992 through July 1993 that severely shocked the economy, and sporadic outbreaks of violence from elements of the security forces and others created an unsettled atmosphere for much of 1991 through 1994.

Progress toward free elections and installation of a definitive government was slow and painful. A new, democratic constitution was approved in a referendum in September 1992. In seriously flawed presidential elections in August 1993 and again in 1998, President Eyadema was reinstated for a 5-year term. However, these elections were boycotted by the major opposition parties and a majority of the voters and therefore did not resolve underlying divisions between the opposition and pro-Eyadema factions of Togolese society. After extensive negotiations between the opposition and the presidential side, legislative elections were held in February 1994. The parties opposed to Eyadema won a slim majority in a poll that was generally held to have been free and fair. The 1999 parliamentary elections were boycotted by the major opposition parties, allowing the RPT to gain control of 79 of the 81 seats.

The constitution requires the president to name the prime minister from among the parliamentary majority. President Eyadema selected Agbeyome Messan Kodjo to be Prime Minister, and his government was installed in August 2000. Overall, the government, while faced by severe economic difficulties, shares the generally free-market, pro-Western orientation of previous governments and has declared its intention to promote democracy, human rights, and the rule of law but faces a major challenge fulfilling its promises of political and economic betterment.

Arts, Science, and Education

All public education in Togo is free. In principle, all children must begin school at the age of 6, but attendance is not compulsory. The attendance situation varies from region to region. In almost all villages, there are primary schools, and in the administrative districts, some junior secondary schools and lycee (secondary schools). Educational institutions, whether primary, secondary or technical, are either government affiliated or are associated with the Catholic church, Christian missionaries, or private institutions.

The Universite du Benin, founded in 1970, has a faculty of sciences and letters, schools of law, medicine, agronomy and science, and an advanced Institute for Industrial Engineering. Many Togolese go abroad to study, usually to France. Some also study in Germany and the U.S.

Paul Ahyi, sculptor, muralist, and painter, is the country's best known artist. Many of his works are publicly displayed in Lome. Several other artists occasionally exhibit works at Lome's hotels, the Palais du Congres, or the American, French, or German Cultural centers.

Many bronze, wood, ivory, and semi-precious stone artifacts are peddled by the ubiquitous traders in Lome and in other cities. Handicraft making has been boosted by the creation of a crafts center in Kloto, about a 30-minute drive from the capital. Craftsmen fashion batiks, hand-carve wood, weave cloth, and produce glazed pottery. Jewelers, sandal-makers, embroiderers, cloth and basket weavers, and workers in wood, ivory, and bone can be found in major cities.

Folklore remains an integral part of Togolese life, particularly in the villages, where you will find spontaneous plays and community singing and dancing. Traditional regional festivals are celebrated throughout the year.

Commerce and Industry

Togo is a small country on the coast of West Africa. Its economy depends heavily upon agriculture, phosphate mining, and regional trade. Togo had a per capita income of $1,500 and GDP of $7.3 billion in 2000. The majority of the population depends on subsistence agriculture. The agricultural sector accounts for 42 percent of the GDP and employs over 65 percent of the population. Principal food crops include yams, cassava, millet, corn, sorghum and groundnuts. Agricultural production rose to a record high in 1993 due to political disturbances and an 8-month general strike (1992-93) that forced many unpaid civil servants to migrate from Lome to rural areas and farms. Coffee, cotton, and cocoa are the major cash crops produced for export and account for approximately 40% of export earnings. Some attempts are being made to export pineapples, houseplants, vegetables, and palm oil. There has been a greater emphasis in cotton production in the last decade, leading to major growth in exports. Cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs are also raised.

Phosphate mining is the most important industrial activity. Togo has an estimated 130 million tons of phosphate reserves, and the government-owned Togolese Phosphates Office (OTP) has a production capacity of 3.25 million tons a year.

Industry plays a growing role in the Togolese economy, accounting for 21 percent of the GDP. Much of Togo's industrial base dates back to the government's industrialization program in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which resulted in a number of poorly run parastatals. Demands for higher wages have had a particularly negative impact on domestic industry. The government has liquidated some parastatals, privatized others, and improved the management of many of those remaining under state control. The government's privatization campaign has brought foreign investment in several former state-owned companies, including a steel mill, a dairy factory, a cookie factory, a pasta factory, a brewery, a flour mill, a detergent factory, and an edible oil refinery. In 1989, Togo created an export processing zone to encourage foreign investment and an export-led economic growth. Growth has been limited by Togo's political troubles.

Togo has few energy resources of its own and relies heavily on hydroelectric power from Ghana for its electrical needs. Togo's energy production capacity, however, increased with the completion of the Nangbeto hydroelectric dam, which was built on the Mono River in central Togo, near the Togo/Benin border. Electricity supplies in Lome and in several smaller cities are generally reliable, but wide fluctuations are common.

Regional trade is a very important component of the economy of Togo. In fact, commerce is the single most important economic activity in Togo, after traditional agriculture, and Lome has long been known as an important regional trading center. The commercial sector is dominated by five major trading companies, which control roughly half of the registered import activity. There are also many smaller registered commercial enterprises. Togo has a well-developed banking sector, with five full-service commercial banks. Lome's position as a regional banking center, however, has been reduced because of the political and economic difficulties of the early 1990s.

The modern and autonomous port of Lome, an extensive paved road network, and an improving telecommunications system all help to make Togo's infrastructure one of the best in the region. The country has over 2,250 miles of paved roads, the most important of which are the north-south road from Lome to the Burkina Faso border and the coastal road linking Ghana and Benin. The port of Lome, which was inaugurated in 1968 and expanded in 1984, has piers capable of handling a large variety of ships. The port operates daily and has extensive transit and storage facilities. It has a 173-acre free port area and an additional 1,581-acre industrial park, making it an attractive regional base. Warehousing, assembling, and manufacturing operations can receive customs exoneration on imported raw materials and exported finished exports. Togo's good infrastructure has made Togo an important transshipment center, particularly for goods going to Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

Togo's relative advantages as a regional trading center have eroded in recent years due to improvements in the business climates in neighboring countries and the political instability in Togo. The decline in regional trade was accelerated from late 1990 to 1993, due to political unrest. Trade through the port of Lome has dropped.

Capital and consumer goods in Togo are imported mainly from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Lebanon and China. Some 60 percent of the imports consist of consumer goods, one-third of which are foodstuffs and beverages.

In the past the Togolese Government had put a high priority on developing the country's tourist trade. Lome has 5 modern European-style hotels and many smaller tourist hotels. There is one nice, government-owned hotel in Kara, 430 kilometers north of Lome. The tourist industry has been badly affected by the long period of political instability and periodic violence.

Transportation

Local

In-town taxis provide inexpensive transportation to any point within central Lome, although vehicles are often in poor condition. Tipping is not expected. Taxis can be easily obtained during business hours. American drivers should exercise extreme caution while driving. Personnel should wear seat belts and have car seats for infants and small children. The condition of motor vehicles on the road is quite poor, so defensive driving is very important. The majority of Lome's population walks or cycles and frequently ignores traffic rules. Sheep, goats, chickens, and dogs wander the streets freely.

Cars can be rented with or without a chauffeur from a car rental firm, but prices are high.

Bicycles, motorscooters, and motorcycles are numerous on already congested streets. Limited brands/models of bicycles, motorscooters, and motorcycles (Yamaha, Honda, etc.) can be obtained locally. Togolese law requires the wearing of helmets, however, many cyclists do not wear them or wear inadequate protection.

Avoid night driving whenever possible. Many roads are full of large potholes and most are without street lights, additionally, many cars do not have proper headlights or tail-lights.

Most police vehicles are blue and white. Fire department vehicles are red. Official government vehicles are generally black. It is common practice to stop or reroute traffic if a VIP is going to pass. Everyone is required to obey either police or military persons directing traffic.

Most Americans travel by privately owned vehicle, although taxis and mini-buses provide regular (if crowded and not very safe) transportation to all towns. A railroad provides limited service from Lome to Blitta and Kpalime.

Regional

Togo's air-conditioned airport officially opened in 1988. Air services to and from neighboring countries are available although delays are common. Air Afrique flies three times weekly between Paris and Lome, making stopovers in other African cities. KLM offers two flights a week between Lome and Amsterdam, with connections to New York. Sabena airlines also offers two flights a week between Lome and Brussels, with connections to New York. Air France has a weekly flight between Lome and Paris. No American carriers serve Lome.

Togo has limited rail transport, but the two-lane macadam roads to Cotonou, Benin and Accra, Ghana permit automobile travel. All driving within the west African region is done on the right-hand side of the road. Cotonou and Accra are both about 3 hours by car from Lome; Lagos, Nigeria is approximately two hours beyond Cotonou, but road travel is not recommended to Lagos for safety reasons. It is also possible to drive to Burkina Faso via a serviceable paved road completed to Togo's northern border in 1980.

Togo's roads are not in good condition, with many potholes and bad stretches of road. Most country roads are dirt or sand routes. four-wheel drive vehicles are popular among the American community.

Communications

Telephone and Telegraph

France Cable operates a satellite communications system linking Lome, Europe and the U.S., 24 hours daily. Service is reliable and efficient (especially on weekends) but expensive. Phone connections to cities in Francophone Africa, such as Cotonou and Abidjan, can be made without too much delay, but calls to other African cities are difficult and sometimes impossible to make in a day.

PTT Lome, in conjunction with France Cable, provides commercial telegraph service 7:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Saturday, and 8:00 am to noon, Sundays and holidays.

Telex service to all parts of the world is fair.

Radio and TV

Radio Lome broadcasts from 5:00 a.m. to midnight daily, with news broadcast in French and local languages. Radio Kara, in northern Togo, broadcasts 97 hours per week. Radio France International (RFI) has received approval to set up an FM transmitter in Togo. Privately-owned Radio Kanal Plus, the station most listened to by English-speaking expatriates, plays an eclectic selection of music, ranging from European classical to rap. The Voice of America (VOA) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) transmit shortwave English-language broadcasts to West Africa.

Government-owned TV Togo (one station, one channel) was officially inaugurated in 1973. Programming is in color. Broadcasts are generally in French from 6:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. weekdays, and from noon to 11:30 p.m. on weekends. There is a prime-time newscast in French at 8:00 p.m., which is repeated at 10:00p.m. TV fare features movies, music videos, documentaries, and some American TV situation comedy reruns dubbed into French.

The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC-TV) can be received with an outside antenna and booster. GBC-TV offers a wider variety of programs than TV Togo. Most programs are in English. They transmit from 5:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. on weekdays from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. on weekends and holidays. Prime-time news is shown at 7:00 p.m. and retransmitted at 10:00 p.m. CNN International is featured from midnight to 1:00 a.m. American TV sitcom reruns are shown, as well as feature films.

There is a cable company in Lome that offers access to CNN International and Canal France International for those with special antennas. The company is currently negotiating with several other cable operators, including BET International.

Newspapers, Magazines, and Technical Journals

The government-owned Togo Presse is published six days a week. Most of the paper is in French with one page (half-page each) in Ewe and Kabiye, the major Togolese languages. Several independent French-language weeklies can be bought from street hawkers or local bookstores, which also carry the French dailies Le Monde and L'Express, and other French and European magazines. European editions of Time, Newsweek, and the International Herald Tribune are available. Air subscriptions of these publications are available, but they are expensive and arrive with delays.

English-language books can be found on rare occasions in some local shops. Those who have children enrolled at the British School can borrow English-language books from their well-stocked library.

Health and Medicine

Medical Facilities

Bring eye-glass prescriptions with you in case you need emergency replacement. Bring any cleaning solution/equipment for contact lenses with you as you won't be able to find these in Lome.

Local dental care is adequate for routine care, such as fillings and cleaning, but you should complete any special treatment (endodontal, periodontal, crowns, or oral surgical problems) before coming.

The Lome city hospital is below American standards and is not used for health care by the American community. A small missionary hospital staffed by American surgeons is situated 2 1/2 hours north of Lome. The hospital has an adequate laboratory, x-ray unit and a clean, well-equipped operating room.

Lome's physicians, both generalists and specialists, are European or locally trained, and are called in for consultation on occasion. Obstetrical and diagnostic services are extremely limited. Prenatal care is substandard, and expatriates must be medevaced for delivery. Pregnant women are at increased risk from malaria.

Community Health

The level of sanitation in Lome, while good by African standards, is far below that of cities in developed countries. Water from the public system is contaminated and must be boiled and filtered. Most of the city is not served by a sewer system. Waste and contaminated water are discharged on the beaches. Garbage and trash are collected irregularly. Local government funds for food inspection, insect control, and disease prevention are extremely limited. Therefore, locally butchered meat must be thoroughly cooked, and fruits and vegetables should be soaked in a suitable disinfecting solution.

Many diseases unknown in the United States are present in Togo. These include malaria, dysentery, typhoid fever, leprosy, Guinea worm, Schistosomiasis, skin diseases, and various intestinal parasites, to name a few. For expatriates living in Lome and observing ordinary sanitary precautions, most of these illnesses are not a hazard. Rabies is present in Togo and care must be taken to avoid infected animals. Childhood diseases such as measles, diphtheria, polio, and strep infections are common. With the advent of chloroquine-resistant Falciparium malaria to West Africa, malaria has been a major concern for expatriates. Malaria in Togo is a pervasive, year round disease. The mortality rate among the Togolese is high. Expatriates are extremely susceptible to the disease and constant attention to preventive medications and mosquito control is necessary.

Preventive Measures

Most Americans remain remarkably well in Lome by following a number of preventive measures that soon become routine:

Bring water to a rolling boil for 3 minutes and then filter.

Wash fresh fruits and vegetables well, and soak in chlorine or iodine solution for 30 minutes, then rinse with boiled water.

Maintain a clean kitchen; foods spoil quickly here—refrigerate and store foods carefully; ensure that servants are not disease carriers by obtaining a pre-employment medical exam; periodic follow up tests for parasites every 6 months, and chest X-rays every 2 years; also ensurethat servants are carefully instructed in sanitary working habits.

Be sure that the entire family has received, and remains up-to-date on, recommended inoculations. Yellow fever is required for entry into Togo. Inoculations recommended include: measles, mumps, German measles, polio, hemophilus, meningitis, hepatitis, tetanus, rabies, and typhoid.

Teach children basic health and hygiene practices. Contact with infected soil causes hookworm infestation and larva migrate. Contaminated food and carriers can be the source of several intestinal parasites.

Machine dry or iron all clothes to prevent larval infestation of the skin.

Do not swim in or drink from bodies of water or streams of fresh water anywhere in Togo. Schistosomiasis due to infected snails is prevalent and enters through the skin. Guinea worm is contracted by drinking contaminated water.

The State Department's Office of Medical Services recommends that all Americans take mefloquine to prevent malaria. Mefloquine is an effective prophylaxis regimen in Togo and most other areas where there is chloroquine resistance. Mefloquine is safe and well tolerated when given weekly. Doxycycline has comparable effectiveness. However, those unable to take mefloquine or doxycycline should take chloroquine in combination with paludrine to prevent malaria.

Dosages for the prevention of malaria should begin 2 weeks before arrival, continue while in Togo and 4 weeks after you leave. While in Togo, screen houses, use mosquito nets at night; use repellents and aerosol sprays as necessary; and control local mosquito breeding areas. Malaria is a life-threatening disease.

NOTES FOR TRAVELERS

Air travel to Lome is the only feasible transportation for visitors coming long distances.

Visas for Togo are issued by the French consular officers in the countries with no Togolese diplomatic mission. Americans may enter Togo without a visa and obtain a resident visa after arrival.

Dogs and cats being imported into to Togo must have a current rabies vaccination and a certificate of good health issued within 48 hours of departure. With the exception of Accra, which allows dogs to accompany visitors, entering British or former British areas en route to Togo requires special permits, which are difficult to arrange. If possible, avoid such areas and bring dogs and cats by air directly to Lome. Although available locally, pet supplies are very expensive.

Togo's currency is the CFA franc (Communaute Financiere Africaine) which is fixed to the euro. The exchange is about 656 CFA to one euro, and in January 2001 was 699 CFA to the U.S. dollar.

Commercial banks in Togo include: Ecobank, Union Togolaise de Banque (UTB), Banque Internationale pour l'Afrique Occidentale (BIAO), and Banque Togolaise pour le Commerce et l'Industrie (BTCI).

Commercial banks provide checking facilities, sell travelers checks, and will accept currency, drafts, and travelers and personal checks. Banks charge for service when a deposit in dollars is made to a franc account and do not return cancelled checks with periodic statements. While some larger hotels and restaurants may accept credit cards, not all types are accepted.

The metric system of weights and measures is used.

No ceiling is imposed on the amount of CFA francs you can legally import. However, permission must be obtained from the Togolese Government to convert CFA into dollars, except in the case of official personnel to whom the privilege is extended automatically.

LOCAL HOLIDAYS

Jan. 1 … New Year's Day

Jan. 13 … Liberation Day

Jan. 24 … Economic Liberation Day

Mar/Apr. … Easter^*

Mar/Apr. … Easter Monday^*

Apr. 27 … Independence Day

May 1 … Labor Day

May/June … Ascension Day^*

May/June … Pentecost^*

May/June … Pentecost Monday^*

Aug. 15 … Assumption Day

Nov. 1 … All Saints' Day

Dec. 25 … Christmas Day

… Id al-Adah^*

… Ramadan^*

… Id al-Fitr^*

^*variable

RECOMMENDED READING

Few specific descriptions of Togo in English are available to the public. Most public libraries have the standard selection of recent books on formerly British Africa that may have some pertinence to Togo. Writings on formerly French African territories often contain a section on Togo. The French Embassy and Information Services have published excellent pamphlets.

Consult the American Association of Foreign Service Women (AAFSW) in the Foreign Service Lounge and the Overseas Briefing Center at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center.

Articles in various news magazines, such as Time, Newsweek, and The Economist have carried the events of the past few years.

Aithnard, K.M. Some Aspects of Cultural Policy in Togo. UNESCO: Studies and the Documents on Cultural Policies, 1976.

Carey, Joyce. Mr. Johnston. Harper& Row: New York. An English administrator's frustration and a young Nigerian employee's bewilderment and disappointment on a bush road development scheme.

Carpenter, Allan and James Frostman. Togo. PLB: Enchantment of Africa Series, 1977.

Conton, William. The African. This novel, by a Sierra Leonean, depicts the path from village hut to dominant politician's villa.

Cornevin, Robert. Histoire du Togo. Editions Berger-Levtault: Paris, 1969. General history of Togo with interesting chapters on early Togolese history, a long selection on the colonial period, and details of colonial administration.

Crowder, Michael. West Africa Under Colonial Rule. Hutchinson & Co., Ltd.: London, 1970. Africa in the mid-19th century, subsequent imposition of colonial rule, and local efforts to resist various colonial powers. Includes a section on Togo.

Decalo, Samuel. Army Rule in Africa: Studies in Military History. Yale University Press: New Haven.

——. Historical Dictionary of Togo. 2nd ed. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1987.

Francois, Yvonne. Le Togo, Karthala, Paris, 1993.

Gess, Denise. Togo. Places & Peoples of the World Series. New York: Chelsea House, 1988.

July, Robert W. A History of the African People. Faber & Faber: London, 1970. A well-written, accurate, and up-to-date history of Africa with good maps, pictures, and excellent bibliographies.

Knoll, Arthur J. Togo Under Imperial Germany, 1884-1914. Hoover Institute Press: Stanford, 1978.

Laye, Camara. The African Child. (L'Enfant Noir, also The Dark Child). Fontana Press. A warm and moving autobiography of the youth of a well-educated Guinean under French colonial rule.

Levtzion, Nehemia. Muslims and Chiefs in West Africa. Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1968. The Dagomba, Mamprusi, and Gonja areas of northern Ghana, the Chokossi State centered around Mango in northern Togo, and another part of the Kotokoli of north-central Togo.

Oliver, Roland and J.D. Fage. A Short History of Africa. Penguin African Library: Baltimore, 1966. Paperback. Excellent introduction to African history.

Packer, George. The Village of Waiting. New York: Vintage Books, 1988.

Piraux, Maurice. Togo Today. Editions Jeune Afrique: Paris, 1977. Good touristic summary. Many photos, maps, and suggested road tour itineraries.

Reindorf, Carl Christian. The History of Gold Coast and Asante. Panther House: New York. Early Togolese history including the arrival of the Mina to the Aneho area.

Stoecker, H., ed. German Imperialism in Africa: From the Beginnings until the Second World War. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press International, 1986.

Stride, G.T. and D. Ifeka. Peoples and Empires of West Africa: West Africa in History 1000-1800. Thomas Nelson and Sons, Ltd.: London, 1971. Paperback. One of the best books on pre-colonial African history. Excellent maps and detailed discussions on the various empires and states in West Africa including Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Kanem-Bornu, Hausa, Benin, and Ashanti.

Unger, Sanford J. Anger. Simon &Shuster: New York, 1985. Discusses the complexity, beauty, tragedy, importance and fascination of the whole of Africa. It is a journey through virtually all the African nations and their bursting cities. He traces the emergence of the second largest continent from its post-colonial era. Includes section on Togo.

Winslow, Zachery. Togo. New York:Chelsea House, 1988.

Yagla, Wen'saa Ogma. l'Edification de la Nation Togolaise. Librarie-Editions l'Harmattan: Paris, 1978.

Magazines

Africa Report. Monthly of the African-American Institute. Excellent coverage of events and outstanding personalities. Book reviews. Cultural, political, economic, and sociological subjects examined with careful historical perspective. Exchange visitors and special projects reported regularly.

Foreign Affairs. Serious discussions by scholars, administrators, and African politicians, plus a bibliography.

Jeune Afrique. French-language weekly that covers African news and current events. Published in Paris.

National Geographic. West, Central, and sub-Saharan Africa at their most photogenic, with usually accurate observations in the text. New African. West Africa.

Togo

PROFILE
GEOGRAPHY
PEOPLE
HISTORY
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS
ECONOMY
FOREIGN RELATIONS
U.S.-TOGOLESE RELATIONS
TRAVEL

Compiled from the January 2008 Background Note and supplemented with additional information from the State Department and the editors of this volume. See the introduction to this set for explanatory notes.

Official Name:

Togolese Republic

PROFILE

Geography

Area: 56,785 sq. km.; slightly smaller than West Virginia.

Cities: Capital—Lome 1,008,000 (pop. 2007 est.); other major cities—Sokode 111,200, Kara 104,900, Atak-pame 77,300, Dapaong 53,600.

Terrain: Savannah and hills and coastal plain.

Climate: Tropical.

People

Nationality: Noun and adjective (sing. and pl.)—Togolese.

Population: (2006) 6,300,000.

Annual growth rate: (2006) 2.4%.

Ethnic groups: Ewe, Mina, Kabye, Cotocoli, Moba.

Religions: (est.) Animist 33%, Christian 47.1%, Muslim 13.7%, other 6.1%.

Languages: French (official), local (Ewe, Mina, Kabye).

Education: Attendance (2006)— 74.6% of age group 6-11 enrolled. Literacy (2006)—male 70%, female 44%.

Health: Life expectancy (2003)— male 51 yrs, female 55 yrs.

Work force: (1999 est.) Total—2 million (43% of the total population); rural work force (est.)—1,350,000; urban work force (est.)—650,000.

Government

Type: Republic.

Independence: April 27, 1960 (from French-administered UN trusteeship).

Constitution: Adopted 1992.

Government branches: Executive—president (chief of state); prime minister (head of government). Legislative—National Assembly. Judicial—Supreme Court.

Political subdivisions: 30 prefectures.

Political parties: Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais (RPT); Union des Forces de Changement (UFC); Comite d'action pour le Renouveau (CAR), Pan-African Patriotic Convergence Party (CPP), Democratic Convention of the Togolese People (CDPA).

Suffrage: Universal adult.

National holidays: Independence Day, April 27.

Economy

GDP: (2006) $2.2 billion.

Per capita income: (2006) $350.

Natural resources: Phosphates, limestone, marble.

Agriculture: (43.6% of 2005 GDP) Products—yams, cassava, corn, millet, sorghum, cocoa, coffee, rice, cotton.

Industry: (24% of 2005 GDP) Types—mining, manufacturing, construction, energy. Services: 32.4% of 2005 GDP.

Trade: (2005) Exports—$739 million: phosphates, cocoa, coffee, cotton. Imports—$1 billion: consumer goods, including foodstuffs, fabrics, clothes, vehicles, equipment. Major partners—Ghana, France, Cote d'Ivoire, Germany, Nigeria, Canada, People's Republic of China, Benin.

GEOGRAPHY

Togo is bounded by Ghana, Burkina Faso, Benin, and the Gulf of Guinea. It stretches 579 kilometers (360 mi.) north from the gulf and is only 160 kilometers (100 mi.) wide at the broadest point. The country consists primarily of two savanna plains regions separated by a southwest-northeast range of hills (the Chaine du Togo).

Togo's climate varies from tropical to savanna. The south is humid, with temperatures ranging from 23°C to 32°C (75°F to 90°F). In the north, temperature fluctuations are greater—from 18°C to more than 38°C (65°F to 100°F).

PEOPLE

Togo's population of 6.3 million people (2006 est.) is composed of about 21 ethnic groups. The two major groups are the Ewe in the South and the Kabye in the North. Population distribution is very uneven due to soil and terrain variations. The population is generally concentrated in the south and along the major north-south highway connecting the coast to the Sahel. The ethnic groups of the coastal region, particularly the Ewes (about 21% of the population), constitute the bulk of the civil servants, professionals, and merchants, due in part to the former colonial administrations which provided greater infrastructure development in the south. The Kabye (12% of the population) live on marginal land and traditionally have emigrated south from their home area in the Kara region to seek employment. Their historical means of social advancement has been through the military and law enforcement forces, and they continue to dominate these services.

Most of the southern peoples use the Ewe or Mina languages, which are closely related and spoken in commercial sectors throughout Togo. French, the official language, is used in administration and documentation. The public primary schools combine French with Ewe or Kabye as languages of instruction, depending on the region. English is spoken in neighboring Ghana and is taught in Togolese secondary schools. As a result, many Togolese, especially in the south and along the Ghana border, speak some English.

HISTORY

The Ewes moved into the area which is now Togo from the Niger River valley between the 12th and 14th centuries. During the 15th and 16th centuries, Portuguese explorers and traders visited the coast. For the next 200 years, the coastal region was a major raiding center for Europeans in search of slaves, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name “The Slave Coast.” In an 1884 treaty signed at Togoville, Germany declared a protectorate over a stretch of territory along the coast and gradually extended its control inland. Because it became Germany's only self-supporting colony, Togoland was known as its model possession. In 1914, Togoland was invaded by French and British forces and fell after brief resistance. Following the war, Togoland became a League of Nations mandate divided for administrative purposes between France and the United Kingdom.

After World War II, the mandate became a UN trust territory administered by the United Kingdom and France. During the mandate and trusteeship periods, western Togo was administered as part of the British Gold Coast. In 1957, the residents of British Togoland voted to join the Gold Coast as part of the new independent nation of Ghana.

By statute in 1955, French Togo became an autonomous republic within the French union, although it retained its UN trusteeship status. A legislative assembly elected by universal adult suffrage had considerable power over internal affairs, with an elected executive body headed by a prime minister responsible to the legislature. These changes were embodied in a constitution approved in a 1956 referendum. On September 10, 1956, Nicholas Grunitzky became prime minister of the Republic of Togo. However, due to irregularities in the plebiscite, an unsupervised general election was held in 1958 and won by Sylvanus Olympio. On April 27, 1960, in a smooth transition, Togo severed its constitutional ties with France, shed its UN trusteeship status, and became fully independent under a provisional constitution with Olympio as president.

A new constitution in 1961 established an executive president, elected for 7 years by universal suffrage, and a weak National Assembly. The president was empowered to appoint ministers and dissolve the assembly, holding a monopoly of executive power. In elections that year, from which Grunitzky's party was disqualified, Olympio's party won 90% of the vote and all 51 National Assembly seats, and he became Togo's first elected president.

During this period, four principal political parties existed in Togo: the leftist Juvento (Togolese Youth Movement); the Union Democratique des Populations Togolaises (IDPT); the Parti Togolais Du Progres (PTP), founded by Grunitzky but having limited support; and the Unite Togolaise (UT), the party of President Olympio. Rivalries between elements of these parties had begun as early as the 1940s, and they came to a head with Olympio dissolving the opposition parties in January 1962, ostensibly because of plots against the majority party government. Many opposition members, including Grunitzky, fled to avoid arrest.

On January 13, 1963, President Olympio was assassinated in an uprising of army non-commissioned officers dissatisfied with conditions following their discharge from the French army. Grunitzky returned from exile 2 days later to head a provisional government with the title of prime minister. On May 5, 1963, the Togolese adopted a new constitution which reinstated a multi-party system, chose deputies from all political parties for the National Assembly, and elected Grunitzky as president and Antoine Meatchi as vice president. Nine days later, President Grunitzky formed a government in which all parties were represented.

During the next several years, the Grunitzky government's power became insecure. On November 21, 1966, an attempt to overthrow Grunitzky, inspired principally by civilian political opponents in the UT party, was unsuccessful. Grunitzky then tried to lessen his reliance on the army, but on January 13, 1967, Lt. Col. Etienne Eyadema (later Gen. Gnassingbe Eyadema) ousted President Grunitzky in a bloodless military coup. Political parties were banned, and all constitutional processes were suspended. The committee of national reconciliation ruled the country until April 14, when Eya-dema assumed the presidency. In late 1969, a single national political party, the Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), was created, and President Eyadema was elected party president on November 29, 1969. In 1972, a national referendum, in which Eya-dema ran unopposed, confirmed his

role as the country's president. In late 1979, Eyadema declared a third republic and a transition to greater civilian rule with a mixed civilian and military cabinet. He garnered 99.97% of the vote in uncontested presidential elections held in late 1979 and early 1980. A new constitution also provided for a national assembly to serve primarily as a consultative body. Eyadema was reelected to a third consecutive 7-year term in December 1986 with 99.5% of the vote in an uncontested election. On September 23, 1986, a group of some 70 armed Togolese dissidents crossed into Lome from Ghana in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the Eya-dema government.

In 1989 and 1990, Togo, like many other countries, was affected by the winds of democratic change sweeping eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. On October 5, 1990, the trial of students who handed out antigovernment tracts sparked riots in Lome. Antigovernment demonstrations and violent clashes with the security forces marked the months that followed. In April 1991, the government began negotiations with newly formed opposition groups and agreed to a general amnesty that permitted exiled political opponents to return to Togo. After a general strike and further demonstrations, the government and opposition signed an agreement to hold a “national forum” on June 12, 1991.

The national forum, dominated by opponents of President Eyadema, opened in July 1991 and immediately declared itself to be a sovereign “National Conference.” Although subjected to severe harassment from the government, the conference drafted an interim constitution calling for a 1-year transitional regime tasked with organizing free elections for a new government. The conference selected Joseph Kokou Koffigoh, a lawyer and human rights group head, as transitional prime minister but kept President Eyadema as chief of state for the transition, although with limited powers.

A test of wills between the president and his opponents followed over the next 3 years during which President Eyadema gradually gained the upper hand. Frequent political paralysis and intermittent violence marked this period. Following a vote by the transitional legislature (High Council of the Republic) to dissolve the President's political party—the RPT—in November 1991, the army attacked the prime minister's office on December 3 and captured the prime minister. Koffigoh then formed a second transition government in January 1992 with substantial participation by ministers from the President's party. Opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio, son of the slain president Sylvanus Olympio, was ambushed and seriously wounded, apparently by soldiers, on May 5, 1992.

In July and August 1992, a commission composed of presidential and opposition representatives negotiated a new political agreement. On September 27, the public overwhelmingly approved the text of a new, democratic constitution, formally initiating Togo's fourth republic.

The democratic process was set back in October 1992, when elements of the army held the interim legislature hostage for 24 hours. This effectively put an end to the interim legislature. In retaliation, on November 16, opposition political parties and labor unions declared a general strike intended to force President Eyadema to agree to satisfactory conditions for elections. The general strike largely shut down Lome for months and resulted in severe damage to the economy.

In January 1993, President Eyadema declared the transition at an end and reappointed Koffigoh as prime minister under Eyadema's authority. This set off public demonstrations, and, on January 25, members of the security forces fired on peaceful demonstrators, killing at least 19. In the ensuing days, several security force members were waylaid and injured or killed by civilian oppositionists. On January 30, 1994, elements of the military went on an 8-hour rampage throughout Lome, firing indiscriminately and killing at least 12 people. This incident provoked more than 300,000 Togolese to flee Lome for Benin, Ghana, or the interior of Togo. Most had returned by early 1996.

On March 25, 1993, armed Togolese dissident commandos based in Ghana attacked Lome's main military camp and tried unsuccessfully to kill President Eyadema. They inflicted significant casualties, however, which set off lethal reprisals by the military against soldiers thought to be associated with the attackers.

Under substantial domestic and foreign pressure and the burden of the general strike, the presidential faction entered negotiations with the opposition in early 1993. Four rounds of talks led to the July 11 Ouagadougou agreement, which set forth conditions for upcoming presidential and legislative elections and ended the general strike as of August 3, 1993. The presidential elections were set for August 25, but hasty and inadequate technical preparations, concerns about fraud, and the lack of effective campaign organization by the opposition led the chief opposition candidates—former minister and Organization of African Unity Secretary General Edem Kodjo and lawyer Yawovi Agboyibo—to drop out of the race before election day and to call for a boycott. President Eyadema won the elections by a 96.42% vote against token opposition. About 36% of the voters went to the polls; the others boycotted.

Ghana-based armed dissidents launched a new commando attack on military sites in Lome in January 1994. President Eyadema was unhurt, and the attack and subsequent reaction by the Togolese armed forces resulted in hundreds of deaths, mostly civilian. The government went ahead with legislative elections on February 6 and February 20, 1994. In generally free and fair polls as witnessed by international observers, the allied opposition parties UTD and CAR together won a narrow majority in the National Assembly. On April 22, President Eyadema named Edem Kodjo, the head of the smaller opposition party, the UTD, as prime minister instead of Yawovi Agboyibo, whose CAR party had far more seats. Kodjo's acceptance of the post of prime minister provoked the CAR to break the opposition alliance and refuse to join the Kodjo government.

Kodjo was then forced to form a governing coalition with the RPT. Kodjo's government emphasized economic recovery, building democratic institutions and the rule of law and the return of Togolese refugees abroad. In early 1995, the government made slow progress toward its goals, aided by the CAR's August 1995 decision to end a 9-month boycott of the National Assembly. However, Kodjo was forced to reshuffle his government in late 1995, strengthening the representation by Eyadema's RPT party, and he resigned in August 1996. Eyadema reemerged with a sure grip on power, controlling most aspects of government.

In the June 1998 presidential election, the government prevented citizens from effectively exercising the right to vote. The Interior Ministry declared Eyadema the winner with 52% of the vote in the 1998 election; however, serious irregularities in the government's conduct of the election strongly favored the incumbent and appear to have affected the outcome materially. Although the government did not obstruct the functioning of political opponents openly, the President used the strength of the military and his government allies to intimidate and harass citizens and opposition groups. The government and the state remained highly centralized: President Eyadema's national government appointed the officials and controlled the budgets of all subnational government entities, including prefectures and municipalities, and influenced the selection of traditional chiefs.

The second multi-party legislative elections of Eyadema's 33-year rule were held on March 21, 1999. However, the opposition boycotted the election, in which the ruling party won 79 of the 81 seats in the National Assembly. Those two seats went to candidates from little-known independent parties. Procedural problems and significant fraud, particularly misrepresentation of voter turnout, marred the legislative elections. After the legislative election, the government announced that it would continue to pursue dialog with the opposition. In June 1999, the RPT and opposition parties met in Paris, in the presence of facilitators representing France, Germany, the European Union (EU), and La Francophonie (an international organization of French-speaking countries), to agree on security measures for formal negotiations in Lome.

In July 1999, the government and the opposition began discussions, and on July 29, 1999, all sides signed an accord called the “Lome Framework Agreement,” which included a pledge by President Eyadema that he would respect the constitution and not seek another term as president after his current one expired in 2003. The accord also called for the negotiation of a legal status for opposition leaders, as well as for former heads of state (such as their immunity from prosecution for acts in office). In addition, the accord addressed the rights and duties of political parties and the media, the safe return of refugees, and the security of all citizens. The accord also contained a provision for compensating victims of political violence. The President agreed to dissolve the National Assembly in March and hold new legislative elections, which would be supervised by an independent national election commission (CENI) and which would use the single-ballot method to protect against some of the abuses of past elections. However, the March 2000 date passed without presidential action, and new legislative elections were ultimately rescheduled for October 2001. Because of funding problems and disagreements between the government and opposition, the elections were again delayed, this time until March 2002.

In May 2002 the government scrapped CENI, blaming the opposition for its inability to function. In its stead, the government appointed seven magistrates to oversee preparations for legislative elections. Not surprisingly, the opposition announced it would boycott them. Held in October, as a result of the opposition's boycott the government party won more than two-thirds of the seats in the National Assembly. In December 2002, Eyadema's government used this 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 popular Union des Forces du Progres (UFC) candidate, Gilchrist Olympio, who had been in exile since 1992. The presidential election was held June 1, 2003. President Eyadema was re-elected with 57% of the votes, amid allegations of widespread vote rigging.

On April 14, 2004, the Government of Togo signed an agreement with the European Union that included 22 commitments the Government of Togo must honor as a precondition for resumption of EU aid. Two of the most important of these commitments were a constructive national dialogue between the Government of Togo and the traditional opposition parties and free and democratic legislative elections.

By November 2004, Togo had made modest progress on some commitments, releasing 500 prisoners, removing prison sentences from most provisions of the Press Code, and initiating a dialogue with the core opposition parties. Consultations were ongoing with the European Union with regard to when and how to resume development cooperation.

On February 4, 2005 President Gnassingbe Eyadema died. In an unconstitutional move, the military leadership swore in as President Faure Gnassingbe, the late President Eyadema's son. Immediate condemnation by African leaders followed by sanctions of the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union combined with pressure from the international community led finally to a decision on February 25 for Faure Gnassingbe to step down. Protest efforts by the public included a large demonstration in Lome that was permitted to proceed peacefully. Prior to stepping down, Gnassingbe was selected as leader of the ruling party and named as a candidate in the announced presidential elections to choose a successor to Eya-dema. Abass Bonfoh, National Assembly Vice President, was selected to serve as Speaker of the National Assembly and therefore simultaneously became interim President. Real power apparently was retained by Gnassingbe as he continued to use the offices of the President while the interim President operated from the National Assembly.

Deeply flawed elections held in April 2005 were marred by violence and widespread accusations of vote tampering, causing tens of thousands of Togolese to flee to neighboring Benin and Ghana. Faure Gnassingbe was pronounced the winner and was pressed by the international community—including regional heads of state—to form a government of national unity, including key opposition figures. After Gnassingbe failed to reach agreement with the opposition, he named as Prime Minister Edem Kodjo of the CPP, an original founder of the ruling RPT and former OAU Secretary-General and Togolese Prime Minister. Kodjo subsequently named a cabinet that kept security-related ministries in the hands of the RPT and did not include any representatives from the genuine opposition.

In August 2006 President Gnassingbe and members of the opposition signed the Global Political Agreement (GPA), bringing an end to the political crisis triggered by Gnassingbe Eyadema's death in February 2005 and the flawed and violent electoral process that followed. The GPA provided for a transitional unity government whose primary purpose would be to prepare for benchmark legislative elections. CAR opposition party leader and human rights lawyer Yawovi Agboyibo was appointed Prime Minister of the transitional government in September 2006. Leopold Gnininvi, president of the CDPA party, was appointed minister of state for mines and energy. The third opposition party, UFC, headed by Gilchrist Olympio, declined to join the government, but agreed to participate in the national electoral commission and the National Dialogue follow-up committee, chaired by Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaor

The legislative elections held on October 14, 2007, in which all opposition parties participated, were declared free and fair by international and national election observers. The RPT, with 50 seats, won a majority. The UFC took 27 seats, with the CAR receiving the remaining 4. RPT members were elected to all the internal leadership positions within the National Assembly.

On December 3, 2007, President Gnassingbe appointed as the new Prime Minister Komlan Mally, an RPT member and former Minister of Urban Development. The President named the rest of his cabinet on December 13, 2007 from the RPT and a number of lesser parties. The number of ministries was reduced substantially, down to 22 from 35. The other two parties elected to the National Assembly, the UFC and CAR, are not represented in the cabinet.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS

President Gnassingbe faces a significant challenge, balancing entrenched interests with the need to implement democratic reforms and revive Togo's deteriorating economy. Togo's longsuffering population has seen its living standards decline precipitously since the 1980s.

The Togolese judiciary is modeled on the French system. For administrative purposes, Togo is divided into 30 prefectures, each having an appointed prefect.

Principal Government Officials

Last Updated: 2/1/2008

Pres.: Faure GNASSINGBE

Prime Min.: Komlan MALLY

Min. of Agriculture, Animal Breeding, & Fisheries: Charles AGBA

Min. of Cities: Marc AKITEM

Min. of Commerce, Industry, & Trades: Jean-Lucien Savi de TOVE

Min. of Communication & Civic Education: Kokou TOZOUN

Min. of Culture, Tourism, & Leisure: Gabriel DOSSEH-ANYROH

Min. of Development & Territorial Management: Yendja YENTCHABRE

Min. of Economy, Finance, & Privatization: Payadowa BOUKPESSI

Min. of Environment & Forest Resources: Issifou OKOULOU-KANTCHATI

Min. of Equipment, Transportation, Posts, & Telecommunications: Kokouvi DOGBE

Min. of Foreign Affairs & African Integration: Zarifou AYEVA

Min. of Health: Suzanne ASSOUMA

Min. of Higher Education & Research: Fidel NOUBOUKPO

Min. of Human Rights, Democracy, & Reconciliation: Loreta AKUETE

Min. of Justice & Keeper of the Seals: Tchessa ABI

Min. of Labor, Employment, & Civil Service: Yves NAGOU

Min. of Mines, Energy, & Water: Kokou AGBEMADON

Min. of Population, Social Affairs, & Advancement of Women: Kangi DIALLO, Dr.

Min. of Primary & Secondary Education: Komi KLASSOU

Min. of Relations With Institutions of the Republic: Comlangan D’ALMEIDA

Min. of Security: Pitalouna-Ani LAOKPESSI, Col.

Min. of Social Promotion, Women's Promotion, & Child Protection: Sayo BOYOTI

Min. of Technical Education & Professional Training: Antoine EDOH

Min. of Territorial Admin. & Decentralization: Katari FOLI-BAZI

Min. of Youth & Sports: Agouta OUYENGA

Min.-Del. to the Pres. in Charge of Defense & Veterans Affairs: Kpatcha GNASSINGBE

Min.-Del. to the Prime Min. in Charge of the Private Sector & the Development of the Free Trade Zone: Idrissa DERMANE

Min.-Del. to the Min. of Foreign Affairs & African Integration: Gilbert BAWARA

Min.-Del. to the Min. of Agriculture, Animal Breeding, & Fisheries: Kassegne ADJONOU

Sec. of State to the Min. for Population, Social Affairs, & Advancement of Women: Agnele MENSAH

Sec. of State to the Min. of Youth & Sports: Gilbert ATSU

Dir., Central Bank:

Ambassador to the US:

Permanent Representative to the UN, New York:

ECONOMY

Subsistence agriculture and commerce are the main economic activities in Togo; the majority of the population depends on subsistence agriculture. Food and cash crop production employs the majority of the labor force and contributes about 42% to the gross domestic product (GDP). Coffee and cocoa are traditionally the major cash crops for export. Cotton cultivation increased rapidly in the 1990s, with 173,000 metric tons produced in 1999. After a disastrous harvest in 2001 (113,000 metric tons), production rebounded to 168,000 metric tons in 2002. However, cotton exports have plummeted in recent years due to arrears in payments to farmers, low cotton prices, and poor weather conditions; many cotton farmers have switched to other crops. As of December 2007, the Togolese Government had paid back all arrears to cotton farmers, and the industry is recovering slowly. Despite insufficient rainfall in some areas, the Togolese Government has achieved its goal of self-sufficiency in food crops—corn, cassava, yams, sorghum, millet, and groundnut. Small and medium-sized farms produce most of the food crop; farms range in size from one to three hectares.

Commerce is the most important economic activity in Togo after agriculture. Lome is an important regional trading center. Its port operates 24 hours a day, mainly transporting goods to the inland countries of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Lome's “Grand Marche” is known for its entrepreneurial market women, who have a stronghold on many areas of trade, notably in African cloth. In addition to textiles, Togo is an important center for re-export of alcohol, cigarettes, perfume, and used automobiles to neighboring countries. Political instability during the last decade has, however, eroded Togo's position as a trading center.

In the industrial sector, phosphates are Togo's most important commodity. The country has an estimated 60 million metric tons of phosphate reserves. From a highpoint of 2.7 million tons in 1997, production dropped to approximately 1.3 million tons in 2002. The fall in production is partly the result of the depletion of easily accessible deposits and the lack of funds for new investment. The formerly state-run company benefited from private management, which took over in 2001, but the phosphate industry has all but collapsed in recent years. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommended a financial and strategic audit of the sector and that the government seek a new investor to take over. Togo also has substantial limestone and marble deposits.

When bilateral donors cut off assistance to Togo in the early 1990s as a result of the regimes’ poor democracy and human rights performance, the country was unable to service its debts to multilateral lenders, who ceased their programs as a result. As part of the Government of Togo's strategy to address donor concerns, in 2006 it undertook discussions with the IMF toward the resumption of a country program. Togo successfully completed an IMF Staff-Monitored Program in mid-2007. Talks are underway to relaunch a regular program, which would hasten Togo's eligibility for World Bank assistance and multilateral debt relief. After the successful legislative elections in October 2007, missions from the EU, IMF, and World Bank visited Togo to assess the financial state of the country. The EU, immediately after the elections, reinitiated assistance with a grant of 26 million Euros to be used for urban development and democracy projects. As of fall 2006, Togo was $104.5 million in arrears to the World Bank and owed $15.4 million to the African Development Bank (ADB).

Togo is one of 16 members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The ECOWAS development fund is based in Lome. Togo also is a member of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), which groups eight West African countries using the CFA franc; the eight countries are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d′Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. The West African Development Bank (BOAD), which is associated with UEMOA, is based in Lome. Togo long served as a regional banking center, but that position has been eroded by the political instability and economic downturn of the early 1990s. Historically, France has been Togo's principal trading partner, although other European Union countries are important to Togo's economy. Total U.S. trade with Togo amounts to about $16 million annually.

FOREIGN RELATIONS

Although Togo's foreign policy is nonaligned, it has strong historical and cultural ties with western Europe, especially France and Germany, the former colonial powers. Togo recognizes the People's Republic of China, North Korea, and Cuba. It re-established relations with Israel in 1987.

Togo pursues an active foreign policy and participates in many international organizations. It is particularly active in West African regional affairs and in the African Union. Relations between Togo and neighboring states are generally good.

U.S.-TOGOLESE RELATIONS

Togo is a pro-Western, market-oriented country. The United States and Togo have had generally good relations since its independence, although the United States has never been one of Togo's major trade partners. The largest share of U.S. exports to Togo generally has been used clothing and scrap textiles. Other important U.S. exports include rice, wheat, shoes, and tobacco products, and U.S. personal computers and other office electronics are becoming more widely used.

The Government of Togo, with the support of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), established an export processing zone (EPZ) in Togo in 1989. The zone has attracted private investors interested in manufacturing, assembly, and food processing, primarily for the export market. USAID closed its local office in 1994 and runs local development programs from its office in Accra through non-governmental organizations in Togo.

Peace Corps began its work in Togo in 1962, which since that time has hosted more than 2,200 Peace Corps Volunteers. Currently there are 114 Volunteers serving in Togo. Volunteers have a successful history of collaboration and involvement with the Togolese people at all levels. Their efforts build upon counterpart relationships and emphasize low-cost solutions that make maximum use of local resources.

Partnering with local and international organizations is an important component of Volunteer project activities. Volunteers work to promote self-sufficiency in the areas of small business development, education, environment, and health. All Volunteers, regardless of sector, are trained in how to promote HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention.

Principal U.S. Embassy Officials

Last Updated: 2/19/2008

LOME (E) 4332 Boulevard GNASs-ingbe Eyadema, BP 852, Cite-OUA Lome, Togo, APO/FPO 2300 Lome Place, Washington, DC 20521-2300, (228) 261-5470, Fax (228) 261-5501, INMARSAT Tel 00 874 683 134 145, Workweek: 0730-1700 (M-TH), 0730-1230 (F), Website: http:\\togo.usembassy.gov.

TRAVEL

Consular Information Sheet

July 26, 2007

Country Description: Togo is a small, economically stagnant country in West Africa in a state of political uncertainty. French is the official language, but Ewe and Mina are commonly spoken as well. Tourism facilities are limited, especially outside the capital city, Lomé.

Entry Requirements: A passport and visa are required. Travelers are encouraged to obtain visas prior to arrival due to recent difficulties with requesting them at the airport in Lomé or at some of the land borders. Visas issued in Togo are limited to 7 days and can take an hour or more to be issued. Travelers applying for visa extensions can also experience significant delays. Vaccination against yellow fever is required before entry. U.S. citizens should carry copies of their U.S. passports and vaccination records with them at all times while traveling in Togo so that, if questioned by local officials, they have proof of identity, U.S. citizenship, and required vaccinations readily available.

Travelers may obtain the latest information and details from the Embassy of the Republic of Togo, 2208 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008; telephone (202) 234-4212. Overseas, inquiries should be made at the nearest Togolese embassy or consulate.

Safety and Security: U.S. citizens are urged to avoid political rallies and street demonstrations and maintain security awareness at all times. Togo has experienced periodic violence, strikes, and political tensions since 1990. Following the death of President Eyadema in February 2005, political activists took to the streets and held demonstrations throughout the country that resulted in more than 500 deaths. Land borders with Ghana and Benin are routinely shut down during elections, which are expected to take place during the fall of 2007. While there is considerable optimism about the election process and that it will be non-violent, the potential for demonstrations remains.

For the latest security information, Americans traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affair's Internet site at http://travel.state.gov, where the current Travel Warnings and Travel Alerts, including the Worldwide Caution Travel Alert, can be found. Up-to-date information on safety and security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S. and Canada, or for callers outside the U.S. and Canada, a regular toll-line at 1-202-501-4444.

Crime: Over the past year, Togo has seen a marked increase in incidents of violent crime throughout the country, including several recent machete attacks in poorly lit areas of Lomé. Particular areas for Americans to avoid within Lomé, especially during the hours of darkness, include the Grand Marché area, the beach road, and the Ghana-Togo border areas. Travelers should avoid the beach even during daylight hours as pursesnatching occurs there regularly.

Pick pocketing and theft are common in Togo, especially along the beach and in the market areas of Lomé. Incidents of residential burglary continue to increase, even against foreigners. Theft while riding in taxis is also increasing, as thieves steal bags, wallets, and passports. Taxicabs should not be shared with strangers.

Perpetrators of business fraud often target foreigners, including Americans. Formerly associated with Nigeria, these fraud schemes are now prevalent throughout western Africa, including Togo, and pose a danger of both financial loss and physical harm. An increasing number of Americans have been the targets of such scams, losing anywhere from several thousand to several hundred thousand dollars. Typically, these scam operations begin with an unsolicited communication, usually by e-mail, from an unknown individual who describes a situation that promises quick financial gain, often by assisting in the transfer of a large sum of money or valuables out of the country. The scenarios vary: an American must pretend to be the next-of-kin to a recently deceased Togolese who left a fortune unclaimed in a Togolese bank, or a person claiming to be related to present or former political leaders needs assistance in transferring large sums of cash, or even a business deal that appears to be legitimate. The requests are usually for the payment of advance fees, attorneys’ fees, or down payments on contracts. The final payoff does not exist; the purpose of the scam is to get any money possible and to gain information about the American's bank account. The best way to avoid becoming a victim of advance-fee fraud is common sense—if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. You should carefully check out any unsolicited business proposals originating in Togo before you commit any funds, provide any goods or services, or undertake any travel. Please check the Embassy web site at http://lome.usembassy.gov/ for the most current information on fraud in Togo.

Information for Victims of Crime: The loss or theft abroad of a U.S. passport should be reported immediately to the local police and the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. If you are the victim of a crime while overseas, in addition to reporting to local police, please contact the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate for assistance. The Embassy/Consulate staff can, for example, assist you to find appropriate medical care, contact family members or friends and explain how funds could be transferred. Although the investigation and prosecution of the crime is solely the responsibility of local authorities, consular officers can help you to understand the local criminal justice process and to find an attorney if needed.

Medical Facilities and Health Information: Medical facilities in Togo are limited and of very poor quality, with no adequate emergency medical care. Availability of medications through local pharmacies is unreliable, and travelers should carry all necessary medications, properly labeled, with them. Malaria, a serious and sometimes fatal disease, is prevalent in Togo. For additional information on malaria, including protective measures, see the CDC travelers’ health web site at http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel.

Information on vaccinations and other health precautions, such as safe food and water precautions and insect bite protection, may be obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's hotline for international travelers at 1-877-FYI-TRIP (1-877-394-8747) or via the CDC's internet site at http://www.cdc.gov/travel.

For information about outbreaks of infectious diseases abroad consult the World Health Organization's (WHO) website at http://www.who.int/en. Further health information for travelers is available at http://www.who.int/ith/en.

Medical Insurance: The Department of State strongly urges Americans to consult with their medical insurance company prior to traveling abroad to confirm whether their policy applies overseas and whether it will cover emergency expenses such as a medical evacuation.

Traffic Safety and Road Conditions: While in a foreign country, U.S. citizens may encounter road conditions that differ significantly from those in the United States. The information below concerning Togo is provided for general reference only, and may not be totally accurate in a particular location or circumstance.

While some major thoroughfares in urban parts of Togo are paved, many secondary streets are not, and become severely flooded every time it rains. Driving conditions are hazardous throughout Togo due to the presence of pedestrians, large numbers of small motorcycles, disorderly drivers (moped, car and truck drivers), livestock on the roadways, and the poor condition of the roads, including deep potholes. Overland travel off the main network of roads generally requires a four-wheel-drive vehicle. Many drivers in Togo do not obey traffic laws and most traffic signals do not function properly. Drivers should be prepared for other vehicles to run red lights or stops signs and drive in the wrong direction on one-way streets.

Nighttime travel on unfamiliar roads is dangerous. Poorly marked check-points, often manned by armed, undisciplined soldiers, exist through-out the country, including in the capital. Banditry, including demands for bribes at checkpoints, has been reported on major inter-city high-ways, including the Lomé—Cotonou coastal highway. Travelers are advised to be aware of their surroundings and to drive defensively. At official checkpoints, Togolese security officials prefer that you approach with your dome light on, and have your driver's license, registration, and proof of insurance ready.

Americans should be aware of the staged-accident ploy when driving in Lomé. In this scam, a motorbike will cut in front of you, cause a collision, and draw a crowd, which can turn hostile if you attempt to leave the scene of the so-called accident. Such encounters appear designed to extort money from the vehicle driver. Pedestrians also cause staged accidents. Genuine accidents can also draw hostile crowds. Travelers should drive with their car doors locked and windows closed, and have a cell phone in the vehicle. If you are involved in this kind of accident and can drive away, you should leave the scene, drive to a safe location, and alert both the police and the U.S. Embassy. Violent carjackings are periodically reported in Togo and tend to increase during the summer months and holiday season.

Travelers are advised to exercise caution when using any form of local public transportation. Never get into a taxi with unknown passengers and always agree on the fare before getting in. Visit a website of the country's tourist office at http://www.togo-tourisme.com.

Aviation Safety Oversight: As there is no direct commercial air service between the United States and Togo, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not assessed Togo's Civil Aviation Authority for compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) aviation safety standards. For more information, travelers may visit the FAA's Internet web site at http://www.faa.gov.

Special Circumstances: Power out-ages, voltage fluctuations, and water shortages are common throughout the country. Only certain U.S. credit cards are accepted in Togo. Most major hotels and their restaurants accept American Express, Master-Card, and Visa, while smaller hotels and restaurants do not. Travelers planning to use credit cards should know which cards are accepted before they commit to any transaction. Travelers should keep all credit card receipts, as unauthorized card use and overcharging are common. There are some Automatic Teller Machines that dispense local currency in major banks and they are generally considered safe. Well-known money transfer firms, including Western Union, operate in Togo.

Photographing places affiliated with the government of Togo, including official government buildings, border crossings, checkpoints, police stations, military bases, utility buildings, airports, government vehicles, and government or military personnel, is strictly prohibited, and local authorities will confiscate film and cameras. Government buildings are not always clearly identifiable, as they vary from being very well marked to not marked at all.

Criminal Penalties: While in a foreign country, a U.S. citizen is subject to that country's laws and regulations, which sometimes differ significantly from those in the United States and may not afford the protections available to the individual under U.S. law. Penalties for breaking the law can be more severe than in the United States for similar offenses. Persons violating Togolese laws, even unknowingly, may be expelled, arrested or imprisoned. Penalties for possession, use, or trafficking in illegal drugs in Togoleseare severe, and convicted offenders can expect long jail sentences and heavy fines.

Engaging in sexual conduct with children or using or disseminating child pornography in a foreign country is a crime, prosecutable in the United States.

Children's Issues : For information on international adoption of children and international parental child abduction, see the Office of Children's Issues website at http://travel.state.gov/family.

Registration and Embassy Locations: Americans living or traveling in Togoare encouraged to register with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate through the State Department's travel registration web site so that they can obtain updated information on travel and security within Togo. Americans without Internet access may register directly with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. By registering, American citizens make it easier for the Embassy or Consulate to contact them in case of emergency. The U.S. Embassy is located on Boulevard Eyadema, Neighborhood Lomé II, Lomé; tele-phone (228) 261-5470, fax (228) 261-5499. The local mailing address is B.P. 852, Lomé. Its web site is http://lome.usembassy.gov.

International Adoption

January 2008

The information in this section has been edited from a report of the State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs, Office of Overseas Citizens Services. For more information, please read the International Adoption section of this book and review current reports online at http://travel.state.gov/family.

Disclaimer: The information in this flyer relating to the legal requirements of specific foreign countries is based on public sources and current understanding. Questions involving foreign and U.S. immigration laws and legal interpretation should be addressed respectively to qualified foreign or U.S. legal counsel.

Patterns of Immigration: Recent U.S. immigrant visa statistics indicate that only two orphan visas have been issued to Togolese children within the past five fiscal years.

Adoption Authority: According to the Togolese Civil Code (article 224), the request for adoption must be presented to the Court of the residence of the adoptee. However, the High Court of Lomé has jurisdiction over inter-country adoptions by default. While a High Court Judge may pronounce a full and final adoption, he/she may do so only after consulting with the Ministry of Social Affairs, and specifically the Adoption office within. The High Court, with the assistance of the Ministry of Social Affairs, will identify and match a child with potential adoptive parents if needed.

High Court of Lomé
Tel: (228) 221 56 39 (this is in fact the social affairs office's number)
B.P. 342
Lomé, Togo

Eligibility Requirements for Adoptive Parents: According to articles 209 and 210 of the Togolese Civil Code, both married couples (married for at least five years, not separated, and one spouse above 30 years old) and single individuals of 35 years old or older may adopt, provided that at the time of their application to adopt a Togolese child, the applicants do not already have biological children together (a couple with biological children from another union may adopt as long as they have no biological children together at the time of the adoption). The Ministry of Social Affairs does not allow same sex couples to adopt in Togo.

Residency Requirements: There are no residency requirements for intercountry adoptions.

Time Frame: When the adoption concerns a child chosen by the adoptive parents, the process can take up to three (3) months, and in some much cases, longer. When the government places a child with prospective adoptive parents, the length of time will vary depending of the complexity of the case and availability of a child.

Adoption Agencies and Attorneys: There are no private adoption agencies in Togo and attorneys are not authorized to sign adoption decrees. (The only document that notaries are authorized to issue is the Notarized Adoption Consent to be included in file for the Court review and decision. The Notarized Adoption Consent document occurs only after a home study. Notaries can assist prospective parents in locating the correct office responsible for each paper. They can give some local guidance in what can be a very confusing bureaucratic process. Prospective adoptive parents can expect to pay attorneys fees for services rendered.

Prospective adoptive parents should contact the U.S. Embassy in Lomé for an updated list of local notaries. Please be advised that some lawyers and notaries may promise to facilitate adoptions or help families overcome legal ineligibilities preventing them from adopting in Togo. The Ministry of Social Affairs has emphasized that these lawyers have no influence in the adoption process, only the High Court and Social Affairs do. The Ministry of Social Affairs has reiterated that the Adoption laws are not flexible and must be abided by fully.

Adoption Fees: Fees involved in the adoption procedure vary from case to case. Prospective adoptive parents should expect to pay a minimum of $150 to as high as $1,000. Also, applicants should include a self-addressed envelope for return postage in their application package to the High Court. The standard postage to the US is CFA 650, which is a little over a dollar. Prospective adoptive parents may wish to consult with overseas delivery services to find out the exact price for pre-paid envelopes for document deliveries from Togo.

Adoption Procedures: An adoption file should first start with an appointment with the officer in charge of adoption at the High Court of Lomé. Tel: (228) 221 56 39. The U.S. Embassy can set up the appointment for you. The documents and fees incorporated in this flyer should be taken as a guideline; procedures tend to change frequently and without notice, so the court officer will be able to give you specific information on what will be required for each case.

An Application for adoption in form of a letter should be addressed to the President of the High Court of Lomé or the Court of residence of the adoptee together with a required documentation listed below. If a couple initiated the application, both should sign the letter. If the prospective adoptive parent(s) wish to express preferences regarding the age and gender of the child whom they would like to adopt, this information should be included in the letter.

The file should be addressed to:

Service Social près le Tribunal de
Première Instance de Lomé
B.P. 342
Contact: Mr. Djikounou Kodjo,
911 5026
Lomé Togo
Tel. 221 5639

If the adoptive parents have not yet identified a child, the High Court can identify a child who is eligible for adoption. The High Court works with a local NGO (Terre des Hommes) and orphanages. There are no pre-adoption fostering requirements.

Required Documents:

• The adoption request to the President of the High Court of Lomé or other competent court with exact age and gender of prospective adoptee;
• A police clearance certificate for each applicant (in the case of a couple);
• A legalized copy of birth certificate for each applicant (in the case of a couple);
• A legalized copy of marriage certificate for couple;
• A Medical certificate for each applicant;
• A Proof of financial resources (e.g. pay slips/latest bank statement);
• An approved I-600A from USCIS;
• A copy of the Home Study report;
• A copy of the psychological investigation report;
• Photographs (of applicants and their apartment/home);
• Letters of recommendation from family, friends or acquaintances;
• A prepaid or pre-stamped envelope;
• A Notarized Adoption Consent document expressing the consent of both parties (in the case of an adoption by consent).

Simple versus Plenary/Full adoption: For the moment Togolese law does not recognize simple adoption and only offers plenary/full adoptions. Plenary adoption severs the biological ties of a child with his biological antecedents and replaces them with a new identity, that of his adoptive parents.

Adoption versus Legal Guardianship: Togolese child and family law stipulates that the legal guardianship of a child or the delegation of parental authority can be granted in cases where the child is an orphan, or in instances where he/she is considered abandoned or needy with no family to provide elementary care

The legal guardianship and the delegation of parental authority can be an alternative to adoption and not a conduit to adoption. While by effect of law, the adoption creates a relation of affiliation independently of the origin of the adoptee; the legal guardianship and the delegation of parental authority rather authorize the placement of a child with a family until his/her age of majority. The legal guardianship and the delegation of parental authority can be ended at any time by decision of the Court if new conditions arise. The High Court, in conjunction with the Ministry of Social Affairs, grants legal guardianship and delegation of parental authority in consideration of the highest interest of the child. However, the Court does not authorize the child to be placed or taken out of the country in view of a full and final adoption. Hence, obtaining custody of a child in order to bring that child to the US to complete an adoption is not legal and should not be envisaged.

Embassy of the Republic of Togo
2208 Massachusetts Ave., N.W
Washington, DC 20008
Tel: 202-234-4212/3

U.S. Immigration Requirements: Prospective adopting parents are strongly encouraged to consult USCIS publication M-249, The Immigration of Adopted and Prospective Adoptive Children, as well as the Department of State publication, International Adoptions. Please see the International Adoption section of this book for more details and review current reports online at http://travel.state.gov/family.

U.S. Embassy
International Mailing Address
Boulevard Eyadema B.P. 852 Lomé, Togo
U.S. Mailing Address
Department of State
2300 Lomé Place
Washington, DC 20521-2300

Additional Information: Specific questions about adoption in Togo may be addressed to the U.S. Embassy in Lomé. General questions regarding inter-country adoption may be addressed to the Office of Children's Issues, U.S. Department of State, CA/OCS/CI, SA-29, 4th Floor, 2201 C Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20520-4818, toll-free Tel: 1-888-407-4747.

Togo

Compiled from the September 2006 Background Note and supplemented with additional information from the State Department and the editors of this volume. See the introduction to this set for explanatory notes.

Official Name:
Togolese Republic

PROFILE

GEOGRAPHY

PEOPLE

HISTORY

POLITICAL CONDITIONS

ECONOMY

FOREIGN RELATIONS

U.S.-TOGOLESE RELATIONS

TRAVEL

PROFILE

Geography

Area: 56,785 sq. km.; slightly smaller than West Virginia.

Cities: Capital (pop. 2004 est.) Lome—850,000.

Terrain: Savannah and hills and coastal plain.

Climate: Tropical.

People

Nationality: Noun and adjective (sing. and pl.)—Togolese.

Population: (2004) 5,000,000.

Annual growth rate: (2004) 2.1%.

Ethnic groups: Ewe, Mina, Kabye, Cotocoli, Moba.

Religions: (est.) Animist 33%, Christian 47.1%, Muslim 13.7%, other 6.1%.

Languages: French (official), local (Ewe, Mina, Kabye).

Education: Attendance (2000)—62% of age group 5-19 enrolled. Literacy (2003)—male 75%, female 47%.

Health: Life expectancy (2003)—male 51 yrs, female 55 yrs.

Work force: (1999 est.) Total—2 million (43% of the total population); rural work force (est.)—1,350,000; urban work force (est.)—650,000.

Government

Type: Republic.

Independence: April 27, 1960 (from French-administered UN trusteeship).

Constitution: Adopted 1992.

Government branches: Executive—president (chief of state); prime minister (head of government). Legislative—National Assembly. Judicial—Supreme Court.

Political subdivisions: 30 prefectures.

Political parties: Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais (RPT); Union des Forces de Changement (UFC); Comite d’action pour le Renouveau (CAR), Pan-African Patriotic Convergence Party (CPP)

Suffrage: Universal adult.

National holiday: Independence Day, April 27.

Economy

GDP: (2004) $2.1 billion.

Per capita income: (2004) $380.

Natural resources: Phosphates, limestone, marble.

Agriculture: (40.1% of 2002 GDP) Products—yams, cassava, corn, millet, sorghum, cocoa, coffee, rice, cotton.

Industry: (21.6% of 2002 GDP) Types—mining, manufacturing, construction, energy.

Services: 38.3% of 2002 GDP.

Trade: (2002) Exports—$438 million: phosphates, cocoa, coffee, cotton. Imports—$662 million: consumer goods, including foodstuffs, fabrics, clothes, vehicles, equipment. Major partners—Ghana, France, Cote d’Ivoire, Germany, Nigeria, Canada, People’s Republic of China, Benin.

GEOGRAPHY

Togo is bounded by Ghana, Burkina Faso, Benin, and the Gulf of Guinea. It stretches 579 kilometers (360 mi.) north from the gulf and is only 160 kilometers (100 mi.) wide at the broadest point. The country consists primarily of two savanna plains regions separated by a southwest-northwest range of hills (the Chaine du Togo).

Togo’s climate varies from tropical to savanna. The south is humid, with temperatures ranging from 23°C to 32°C (75°F to 90°F). In the north, temperature fluctuations are greater—from 18°C to more than 38°C (65°F to 100°F).

PEOPLE

Togo’s population of 4.97 million people (2003 est.) is composed of about 21 ethnic groups. The two major groups are the Ewe in the South and the Kabye in the North. Population distribution is very uneven due to soil and terrain variations. The population is generally concentrated in the south and along the major north-south highway connecting the coast to the Sahel. Age distribution also is uneven; nearly one-half of the Togo-lese are less than 15 years of age. The ethnic groups of the coastal region, particularly the Ewes (about 21% of the population), constitute the bulk of the civil servants, professionals, and merchants, due in part to the former colonial administrations which provided greater infrastructure development in the south. The Kabye (12% of the population) live on marginal land and traditionally have emigrated south from their home area in the Kara region to seek employment. Their historical means of social advancement has been through the military and law enforcement forces, and they continue to dominate these services.

Most of the southern peoples use the Ewe or Mina languages, which are closely related and spoken in commercial sectors throughout Togo. French, the official language, is used in administration and documentation. The public primary schools combine French with Ewe or Kabye as languages of instruction, depending on the region. English is spoken in neighboring Ghana and is taught in Togolese secondary schools. As a result, many Togolese, especially in the south and along the Ghana border, speak some English.

HISTORY

The Ewes moved into the area which is now Togo from the Niger River valley between the 12th and 14th centuries. During the 15th and 16th centuries, Portuguese explorers and traders visited the coast. For the next 200 years, the coastal region was a major raiding center for Europeans in search of slaves, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name “The Slave Coast.” In an 1884 treaty signed at Togoville, Germany declared a protectorate over a stretch of territory along the coast and gradually extended its control inland. Because it became Germany’s only self-supporting colony, Togoland was known as its model possession. In 1914, Togoland was invaded by French and British forces and fell after brief resistance. Following the war, Togoland became a League of Nations mandate divided for administrative purposes between France and the United Kingdom.

After World War II, the mandate became a UN trust territory administered by the United Kingdom and France. During the mandate and trusteeship periods, western Togo was administered as part of the British Gold Coast. In 1957, the residents of British Togoland voted to join the Gold Coast as part of the new independent nation of Ghana.

By statute in 1955, French Togo became an autonomous republic within the French union, although it retained its UN trusteeship status. A legislative assembly elected by universal adult suffrage had considerable power over internal affairs, with an elected executive body headed by a prime minister responsible to the legislature. These changes were embodied in a constitution approved in a 1956 referendum. On September 10, 1956, Nicholas Grunitzky became prime minister of the Republic of Togo. However, due to irregularities in the plebiscite, an unsupervised general election was held in 1958 and won by Sylvanus Olympio. On April 27, 1960, in a smooth transition, Togo severed its constitutional ties with France, shed its UN trusteeship status, and became fully independent under a provisional constitution with Olympio as president. A new constitution in 1961 established an executive president, elected for 7 years by universal suffrage and a weak National Assembly. The president was empowered to appoint ministers and dissolve the assembly, holding a monopoly of executive power. In elections that year, from which Grunitzky’s party was disqualified, Olympio’s party won 90% of the vote and all 51 National Assembly seats, and he became Togo’s first elected president.

During this period, four principal political parties existed in Togo: the leftist Juvento (Togolese youth movement); the Union Democratique des Populations Togolaises (IDPT); the Parti Togolais Du Progres (PTP), founded by Grunitzky but having limited support; and the Unite Togolaise (UT), the party of President Olympio. Rivalries between elements of these parties had begun as early as the 1940s, and they came to a head with Olympio dissolving the opposition parties in January 1962 ostensibly because of plots against the majority party government. Many opposition members, including Grunitzky, fled to avoid arrest.

On January 13, 1963, President Olympio was assassinated in an uprising of army non-commissioned officers dissatisfied with conditions following their discharge from the French army. Grunitzky returned from exile 2 days later to head a provisional government with the title of prime minister. On May 5, 1963, the Togolese adopted a new constitution which reinstated a multi-party system, chose deputies from all political parties for the National Assembly, and elected Grunitzky as president and Antoine Meatchi as vice president. Nine days later, President Grunitzky formed a government in which all parties were represented.

During the next several years, the Grunitzky government’s power became insecure. On November 21, 1966, an attempt to overthrow Grunitzky, inspired principally by civilian political opponents in the UT party, was unsuccessful. Grunitzky then tried to lessen his reliance on the army, but on January 13, 1967, Lt. Col. Etienne Eyadema (later Gen. Gnassingbe Eyadema) ousted President Grunitzky in a bloodless military coup. Political parties were banned, and all constitutional processes were suspended. The committee of national reconciliation ruled the country until April 14, when Eyadema assumed the presidency. In late 1969, a single national political party, the Assembly of the Togolese People (RPT), was created, and President 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.

In late 1979, Eyadema declared a third republic and a transition to greater civilian rule with a mixed civilian and military cabinet. He garnered 99.97% of the vote in uncon-tested presidential elections held in late 1979 and early 1980. A new constitution also provided for a national assembly to serve primarily as a consultative body. Eyadema was reelected to a third consecutive 7-year term in December 1986 with 99.5% of the vote in an uncontested election. On September 23, 1986, a group of some 70 armed Togolese dissidents crossed into Lome from Ghana in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the Eyadema government.

In 1989 and 1990, Togo, like many other countries, was affected by the winds of democratic change sweeping eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. On October 5, 1990, the trial of students who handed out antigovernment tracts sparked riots in Lome. Antigovernment demonstrations and violent clashes with the security forces marked the months that followed. In April 1991, the government began negotiations with newly formed opposition groups and agreed to a general amnesty that permitted exiled political opponents to return to Togo. After a general strike and further demonstrations, the government and opposition signed an agreement to hold a “national forum” on June 12, 1991.

The national forum, dominated by opponents of President Eyadema, opened in July 1991 and immediately declared itself to be a sovereign “National Conference.” Although subjected to severe harassment from the government, the conference drafted an interim constitution calling for a 1-year transitional regime tasked with organizing free elections for a new government. The conference selected Joseph Kokou Koffigoh, a lawyer and human rights group head, as transitional prime minister but kept President Eyadema as chief of state for the transition, although with limited powers.

A test of wills between the president and his opponents followed over the next 3 years during which President Eyadema gradually gained the upper hand. Frequent political paralysis and intermittent violence marked this period. Following a vote by the transitional legislature (High Council of the Republic) to dissolve the President’s political party—the RPT—in November 1991, the army attacked the prime minister’s office on December 3 and captured the prime minister. Koffigoh then formed a second transition government in January 1992 with substantial participation by ministers from the President’s party. Opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio, son of the slain president Sylvanus Olympio, was ambushed and seriously wounded apparently by soldiers on May 5, 1992.

In July and August 1992, a commission composed of presidential and opposition representatives negotiated a new political agreement. On September 27, the public overwhelmingly approved the text of a new, democratic constitution, formally initiating Togo’s fourth republic.

The democratic process was set back in October 1992, when elements of the army held the interim legislature hostage for 24 hours. This effectively put an end to the interim legislature. In retaliation, on November 16, opposition political parties and labor unions declared a general strike intended to force President Eyadema to agree to satisfactory conditions for elections. The general strike largely shut down Lome for months and resulted in severe damage to the economy.

In January 1993, President Eyadema declared the transition at an end and reappointed Koffigoh as prime minister under Eyadema’s authority. This set off public demonstrations, and, on January 25, members of the security forces fired on peaceful demonstrators, killing at least 19. In the ensuing days, several security force members were waylaid and injured or killed by civilian oppositionists. On January 30, 1994, elements of the military went on an 8-hour rampage throughout Lome, firing indiscriminately and killing at least 12 people. This incident provoked more than 300,000 Togolese to flee Lome for Benin, Ghana, or the interior of Togo. Although most had returned by early 1996, some still remain abroad.

On March 25, 1993, armed Togolese dissident commandos based in Ghana attacked Lome’s main military camp and tried unsuccessfully to kill President Eyadema. They inflicted significant casualties, however, which set off lethal reprisals by the military against soldiers thought to be associated with the attackers.

Under substantial domestic and foreign pressure and the burden of the general strike, the presidential faction entered negotiations with the opposition in early 1993. Four rounds of talks led to the July 11 Ouagadougou agreement setting forth conditions for upcoming presidential and legislative elections and ending the general strike as of August 3, 1993. The presidential elections were set for August 25, but hasty and inadequate technical preparations, concerns about fraud, and the lack of effective campaign organization by the opposition led the chief opposition candidates—former minister and Organization of African Unity Secretary General Edem Kodjo and lawyer Yawovi Agboyibo—to drop out of the race before election day and to call for a boycott. President Eyadema won the elections by a 96.42% vote against token opposition. About 36% of the voters went to the polls; the others boycotted.

Ghana-based armed dissidents launched a new commando attack on military sites in Lome in January 1994. President Eyadema was unhurt, and the attack and subsequent reaction by the Togolese armed forces resulted in hundreds of deaths, mostly civilian. The government went ahead with legislative elections on February 6 and February 20, 1994. In generally free and fair polls as witnessed by international observers, the allied opposition parties UTD and CAR together won a narrow majority in the National Assembly. On April 22, President Eyadema named Edem Kodjo, the head of the smaller opposition party, the UTD, as prime minister instead of Yawovi Agboyibo, whose CAR party had far more seats. Kodjo’s acceptance of the post of prime minister provoked the CAR to break the opposition alliance and refuse to join the Kodjo government.

Kodjo was then forced to form a governing coalition with the RPT. Kodjo’s government emphasized economic recovery, building democratic institutions and the rule of law and the return of Togolese refugees abroad. In early 1995, the government made slow progress toward its goals, aided by the CAR’s August 1995 decision to end a 9-month boycott of the National Assembly. However, Kodjo was forced to reshuffle his government in late 1995, strengthening the representation by Eyadema’s RPT party, and he resigned in August 1996. Eyadema reemerged with a sure grip on power, controlling most aspects of government. In the June 1998 presidential election, the government prevented citizens from effectively exercising the right to vote. The Interior Ministry declared Eyadema the winner with 52% of the vote in the 1998 election; however, serious irregularities in the government’s conduct of the election strongly favored the incumbent and appear to have affected the outcome materially. Although the government did not obstruct the functioning of political opponents openly, the President used the strength of the military and his government allies to intimidate and harass citizens and opposition groups. The government and the state remained highly centralized: President Eyadema’s national government appointed the officials and controlled the budgets of all subnational government entities, including prefectures and municipalities, and influenced the selection of traditional chiefs.

The second multi-party legislative elections of Eyadema’s 33-year rule were held on March 21, 1999. However, the opposition boycotted the election, in which the ruling party won 79 of the 81 seats in the National Assembly. Those two seats went to candidates from little-known independent parties. Procedural problems and significant fraud, particularly misrepresentation of voter turnout marred the legislative elections. After the legislative election, the government announced that it would continue to pursue dialog with the opposition. In June 1999, the RPT and opposition parties met in Paris, in the presence of facilitators representing France, Germany, the European Union, and La Francophonie (an international organization of French-speaking countries), to agree on security measures for formal negotiations in Lome. In July 1999, the government and the opposition began discussions, and on July 29, 1999, all sides signed an accord called the “Lome Framework Agreement,” which included a pledge by President Eyadema that he would respect the constitution and not seek another term as president after his current one expired in 2003. The accord also called for the negotiation of a legal status for opposition leaders, as well as for former heads of state (such as their immunity from prosecution for acts in office). In addition, the accord addressed the rights and duties of political parties and the media, the safe return of refugees, and the security of all citizens. The accord also contained a provision for compensating victims of political violence. The President also agreed to dissolve the National Assembly in March and hold new legislative elections, which would be supervised by an independent national election commission (CENI) and which would use the single-ballot method to protect against some of the abuses of past elections. However, the March 2000 date passed without presidential action, and new legislative elections were ultimately rescheduled for October 2001. Because of funding problems and disagreements between the government and opposition, the elections were again delayed, this time until March 2002.

In May 2002 the government scrapped CENI, blaming the opposition for its inability to function. In its stead, the government appointed seven magistrates to oversee preparations for legislative elections. Not surprisingly, the opposition announced it would boycott them. Held in October, as a result of the opposition’s boycott the government party won more than two-thirds of the seats in the National Assembly. In December 2002, Eyadema’s government used this 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 popular Union des Forces du Progres (UFC) candidate, Gilchrist Olympio, who had been in exile since 1992. The presidential election was held June 1, 2003. President Eyadema was re-elected with 57% of the votes, amid allegations of widespread vote rigging.

On April 14, 2004, the Government of Togo signed an agreement with the European Union that included 22 commitments the Government of Togo must honor as a precondition for resumption of EU aid. Among the most important of these commitments are a constructive national dialogue between the Government of Togo and the traditional opposition parties, and free and democratic legislative elections.

By November 2004, Togo had made modest progress on some commitments, releasing 500 prisoners, removing prison sentences from most provisions of the Press Code, and initiating a dialogue with the core opposition parties. Consultations were ongoing with the European Union with regard to when and how to resume development cooperation.

On Friday, February 4, 2005 President Gnassingbe Eyadema died. In an unconstitutional move, the military leadership swore in as President Faure Gnassingbe, the late President Eyadema’s son. Immediate condemnation by African leaders followed by sanctions of the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union combined with pressure from the international community led finally to a decision on February 25 for Faure Gnassingbe to step down. Protest efforts by the public included a large demonstration in Lomé that was permitted to proceed peacefully. Prior to stepping down, Gnassingbe was selected as leader of the ruling party and named as a candidate in the announced presidential elections to choose a successor to Eyadema. Abass Bonfoh, National Assembly Vice President, was selected to serve as Speaker of the National Assembly and therefore simultaneously became interim President. Real power apparently was retained by Gnassingbe as he continued to use the offices of the President while the interim President operated from the National Assembly.

Deeply flawed elections were held in April 2005, marred by violence and widespread accusations of vote tampering, and causing tens of thousands of Togolese to flee to neighboring Benin and Ghana. Faure Gnassingbe was pronounced the winner, and was pressed by the international community—including regional heads of state—to form a government of national unity, including key opposition figures. After Gnassingbe failed to reach agreement with the opposition, he named as Prime Minister Edem Kodjo, a founder of the ruling RPT and former OAU Secretary-General and Togolese Prime Minister. Kodjo subsequently named a Cabinet that kept security-related ministries in the hands of the RPT and did not include any representatives from the genuine opposition.

POLITICAL CONDITIONS

President Gnassingbe now faces a significant challenge, treading lightly with entrenched ruling party interests while trying to implement democratic reforms and revive Togo’s deteriorating economy. Togo’s long-suffering population has seen its living standards decline precipitously since the 1980s, and that trend is unlikely to be reversed without a political accord on the way forward endorsed by the country’s key political actors.

The Togolese judiciary is modeled on the French system. For administrative purposes, Togo is divided into 30 prefectures, each having an appointed prefect.

Principal Government Officials

Last Updated: 1/24/2007

Pres.: Faure GNASSINGBE

Prime Min.: Yawovi AGBOYIBO

Min. of Agriculture, Animal Breeding, & Fisheries: Charles AGBA

Min. of Cities: Marc AKITEM

Min. of Commerce, Industry, & Trades: Jean-Lucien Savi de TOVE

Min. of Communication & Civic Education: Kokou TOZOUN

Min. of Culture, Tourism, & Leisure: Gabriel DOSSEH-ANYROH

Min. of Development & Territorial Management: Yendja YENTCHABRE

Min. of Economy, Finance, & Privatization: Payadowa BOUKPESSI

Min. of Environment & Forest Resources: Issifou OKOULOU-KANTCHATI

Min. of Equipment, Transportation, Posts, & Telecommunications: Kokouvi DOGBE

Min. of Foreign Affairs & African Integration: Zarifou AYEVA

Min. of Health: Suzanne ASSOUMA

Min. of Higher Education & Research: Fidel NOUBOUKPO

Min. of Human Rights, Democracy, & Reconciliation: Loreta AKUETE

Min. of Justice & Keeper of the Seals: Tchessa ABI

Min. of Labor, Employment, & Civil Service: Yves NAGOU

Min. of Mines, Energy, & Water: Kokou AGBEMADON

Min. of Population, Social Affairs, & Advancement of Women: Kangi DIALLO, Dr.

Min. of Primary & Secondary Education: Komi KLASSOU

Min. of Relations With Institutions of the Republic: Comlangan D’ALMEIDA

Min. of Security: Pitalouna-Ani LAOKPESSI, Col.

Min. of Social Promotion, Women’s Promotion, & Child Protection: Sayo BOYOTI

Min. of Technical Education & Professional Training: Antoine EDOH

Min. of Territorial Admin. & Decentralization: Katari FOLI-BAZI

Min. of Youth & Sports: Agouta OUYENGA

Min.-Del. to the Pres. in Charge of Defense & Veterans Affairs: Kpatcha GNASSINGBE

Min.-Del. to the Prime Min. in Charge of the Private Sector & the Development of the Free Trade Zone: Idrissa DERMANE

Min.-Del. to the Min. of Foreign Affairs & African Integration: Gilbert BAWARA

Min.-Del. to the Min. of Agriculture, Animal Breeding, & Fisheries: Kassegne ADJONOU

Sec. of State to the Min. for Population, Social Affairs, & Advancement of Women: Agnele MENSAH

Sec. of State to the Min. of Youth & Sports: Gilbert ATSU

Dir., Central Bank:

Ambassador to the US:

Permanent Representative to the UN, New York:

ECONOMY

Subsistence agriculture and commerce are the main economic activities in Togo; the majority of the population depends on subsistence agriculture. Food and cash crop production employs the majority of the labor force and contributes about 42% to the gross domestic product (GDP). Coffee and cocoa are traditionally the major cash crops for export, but cotton cultivation increased rapidly in the 1990s, with 173,000 metric tons produced in 1999. After a disastrous harvest in 2001 (113,000 metric tons), production rebounded to 168,000 metric tons in 2002. Despite insufficient rainfall in some areas, the Togolese Government has achieved its goal of self-sufficiency in food crops—corn, cassava, yams, sorghum, millet, and groundnut. Small and medium-sized farms produce most of the food crop; average farm size is one to three hectares.

Commerce is the most important economic activity in Togo after agriculture, and Lome is an important regional trading center. Its port operates 24 hours a day, mainly transporting goods to the inland countries of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Lome’s “Grand Marche” is known for its entrepreneurial market women, who have a stronghold over many areas of trade, particularly in African cloth. In addition to textiles, Togo is an important center for re-export of alcohol, cigarettes, perfume, and used automobiles to neighboring countries. Recent years of political instability have, however, eroded Togo’s position as a trading center.

In the industrial sector, phosphates are Togo’s most important commodity, and the country has an estimated 60 million metric tons of phosphate reserves. From a highpoint of 2.7 million tons in 1997, production dropped to approximately 1.3 million tons in 2002. The fall in production is partly the result of the depletion of easily accessible deposits and the lack of funds for new investment. The formerly state-run company appears to have benefited from private management, which took over in 2001. Togo also has substantial limestone and marble deposits.

Encouraged by the commodity boom of the mid-1970s, which resulted in a four-fold increase in phosphate prices and sharply increased government revenues, Togo embarked on an overly ambitious program of large investments in infrastructure while pursuing industrialization and development of state enterprises in manufacturing, textiles, and beverages. However, following declines in world prices for commodities, its economy became burdened with fiscal imbalances, heavy borrowing, and unprofitable state enterprises.

Togo turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for assistance in 1979, while simultaneously implementing a stringent adjustment effort with the help of a series of IMF standby programs, World Bank loans, and Paris Club debt rescheduling. Under these programs, the Togolese Government introduced a series of austerity measures and major restructuring goals for the state enterprise and rural development sectors. These reforms were aimed at eliminating most state monopolies, simplifying taxes and customs duties, curtailing public employment, and privatizing major state enterprises. Togo made good progress under the international financial institutions’ programs in the late 1980s, but movement on reforms ended with the onset of political instability in 1990. With a new, elected government in place, Togo negotiated new 3-year programs with the World Bank and IMF in 1994.

Togo returned to the Paris Club in 1995 and received Naples terms, the club’s most concessionary rates. With the economic downturn associated with Togo’s political problems, scheduled external debt service obligations for 1994 were greater than 100% of projected government revenues (excluding bilateral and multilateral assistance). In 2004, the IMF Staff Monitored Program designed to restore macroeconomic stability and financial discipline was in a suspended status. New IMF, World Bank and Africa Development Bank (ADB) lending must await the willingness of Togo’s traditional donors—the European Union, principally, but the U.S. also—to resume aid flows. Togo’s problematic legislative and presidential elections and the government’s unwillingness to transition from an Eyadema-led autocracy to democracy deterred these donors from providing Togo with more aid. As of the fall 2002, Togo was $15 million in arrears to the World Bank and owed $3 million to the ADB.

Togo is one of 16 members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The ECOWAS development fund is based in Lome. Togo also is a member of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), which groups seven West African countries using the CFA franc. The West African Development Bank (BOAD), which is associated with UEMOA, is based in Lome. Togo long served as a regional banking center, but that position has been eroded by the political instability and economic downturn of the early 1990s. Historically, France has been Togo’s principal trading partner, although other European Union countries are important to Togo’s economy. Total U.S. trade with Togo amounts to about $16 million annually.

FOREIGN RELATIONS

Although Togo’s foreign policy is non-aligned, it has strong historical and cultural ties with western Europe, especially France and Germany. Togo recognizes the People’s Republic of China, North Korea, and Cuba. It reestablished relations with Israel in 1987.

Togo pursues an active foreign policy and participates in many international organizations. It is particularly active in West African regional affairs and in the African Union. Relations between Togo and neighboring states are generally good.

U.S.-TOGOLESE RELATIONS

Togo is a pro-Western, market-oriented country, and the United States and Togo have had generally good relations since its independence, although the United States has never been one of Togo’s major trade partners. The largest share of U.S. exports to Togo generally has been used clothing and scrap textiles. Other important U.S. exports include rice, wheat, shoes, and tobacco products, and U.S. personal computers and other office electronics are becoming more widely used.

The Government of Togo, with the support of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), established an export processing zone (EPZ) in Togo. The zone has attracted private investors interested in manufacturing, assembly, and food processing, primarily for the export market. USAID closed its local office in 1994 and runs local development programs from its office in Abidjan through nongovernmental organizations in Togo.

As of 2005, overall U.S. economic aid to Togo included 100 Peace Corps volunteers, health and nutrition programs, especially combating HIV/AIDS and child trafficking. U.S.-Togolese relations have been somewhat strained as a result of human rights abuses and the halting progress of the democratic transition.

Principal U.S. Embassy Officials

LOME (E) Address: Boulevard Eyadema, Lome II, BP 852, Lome, Togo; APO/FPO: 2300 Lome Place, Washington, DC 20521-2300; Phone: (228) 261-5470; Fax: (228) 261-5501; INMARSAT Tel: 00 874 683 134 145; Workweek: 0730-1700 (M-TH), 0730-1230 (F); Website: http://togo.usembassy.gov.

Last Updated: 12/21/2006

TRAVEL

Consular Information Sheet : February 23, 2007

Country Description: Togo is a small, economically stagnant country in West Africa in a state of political uncertainty. French is the official language. Tourism facilities are limited, especially outside the capital city, Lomé.

Exit/Entry Requirements: A passport and visa are required. Travelers should obtain visas prior to arrival, as only 7-day visas are available at the airport and some border posts. Travelers applying for visa extensions can experience significant delays. Vaccination against yellow fever is required before entry. U.S. citizens are encouraged to carry copies of their U.S. passports with them at all times so, if questioned by local officials, they have proof of identity and U.S. citizenship readily available. Travelers may obtain the latest information and details from the Embassy of the Republic of Togo, 2208 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008; telephone (202) 234-4212. Overseas, inquiries should be made at the nearest Togolese embassy or consulate.

Safety and Security: U.S. citizens are urged to avoid political rallies and street demonstrations and maintain security awareness at all times. Togo has experienced periodic violence, strikes, and political tensions since 1990. Following the death of President Eyadema in February 2005, political activists took to the streets and held demonstrations throughout the country that resulted in a number of deaths. The periods preceding and following the controversial presidential election in April 2005 were marred by numerous incidents of political violence. These periods of unrest often led to a clampdown by security forces, particularly in Lomé. In the past, and as recently as April 2005, the government has closed Togo’s land borders and shut off communication systems.

Although anti-foreigner sentiment intensified during this recent unrest, Americans had never been specific targets of violence. Nevertheless, for reasons that are unclear, armed men attacked a U.S. Embassy residence during the April 2005 unrest while family members were at home. The family members were not harmed.

For the latest security information, Americans traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department’s Internet website where the current Travel Warnings and Public Announcements, including the Worldwide Caution Public Announcement, can be found. Up-to-date information on safety and security are available by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S. and Canada, or for callers in other countries, a regular toll-line at 1-202-501-4444.

These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).

Crime: Over the past year Togo has seen a marked increase in incidents of violent crime throughout the country. Particular areas for Americans to avoid within Lomé, especially during the hours of darkness, include the Grand Marché area, the beach road, and the Ghana-Togo border areas.

Pick pocketing and theft is common in Togo, especially along the beach and in the market areas of Lomé. Incidents of residential burglary continue to increase, even against foreigners. Theft while riding in taxis is also increasing, as thieves steal bags, wallets, and passports. Taxicabs should not be shared with strangers.

Perpetrators of business fraud often target foreigners, including Americans. Formerly associated with Nigeria, these fraud schemes are now prevalent throughout western Africa, including Togo, and pose a danger of both financial loss and physical harm. An increasing number of Americans have been the targets of such scams, losing anywhere from several thousand to several hundred thousand dollars. Typically, these scam operations begin with an unsolicited communication, usually by email, from an unknown individual who describes a situation that promises quick financial gain, often by assisting in the transfer of a large sum of money or valuables out of the country. The scenarios vary: an American must pretend to be the next-of-kin to a recently deceased Togolese who left a fortune unclaimed in a Togolese bank, or a person claiming to be related to present or former political leaders needs assistance in transferring large sums of cash, or even a business deal that appears to be legitimate. The requests are usually for the payment of advance fees, attorneys’ fees, or down payments on contracts. The final payoff does not exist; the purpose of the scam is to get any money possible and to gain information about the American’s bank account. The best way to avoid becoming a victim of advance-fee fraud is common sense – if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. You should carefully check out any unsolicited business proposals originating in Togo before you commit any funds, provide any goods or services, or undertake any travel. Please check the Embassy website at http://lome.usembassy.gov/ for the most current information on fraud in Togo.

Information for Victims of Crime: You should report the loss or theft abroad of a U.S. passport immediately to the local police and the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. If you are the victim of a crime while overseas, in addition to reporting to local police, please contact the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate for assistance. The Embassy/Consulate staff can assist you to find appropriate medical care, contact family members or friends, and explain how funds could be transferred. Although the investigation and prosecution of the crime is solely the responsibility of local authorities, consular officers can help you to understand the local criminal justice process and to find an attorney if needed.

Medical Facilities and Health Information: Medical facilities in Togo are limited and of very poor quality, with no adequate emergency medical care. While some medicines are available through local pharmacies, travelers should carry all necessary medications, properly labeled, with them.

Malaria, a serious and sometimes fatal disease, is prevalent in Togo. For additional information on malaria, including protective measures, see the CDC Travelers’ Health website at http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/.

Information on vaccinations and other health precautions, such as safe food and water precautions and insect bite protection, is available at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s hotline for international travelers at 1-877-FYI-TRIP (1-877-394-8747) and at the CDC’s Internet site at http://www.cdc.gov/travel. For information about outbreaks of infectious diseases abroad consult the World Health Organization’s (WHO) website at http://www.who.int/en. Further health information for travelers is available at http://www.who.int/ith.

Medical Insurance: The Department of State strongly urges Americans to consult with their medical insurance company prior to traveling abroad to confirm whether their policy applies overseas and whether it will cover emergency expenses such as a medical evacuation.

Traffic Safety and Road Conditions: While in a foreign country, U.S. citizens may encounter road conditions that differ significantly from those in the United States. The information below concerning Togo is provided for general reference only, and may not be totally accurate in a particular location or circumstance.

Major thoroughfares in urban parts of Togo are paved, but driving conditions are hazardous due to the presence of pedestrians, large numbers of small motorcycles, disorderly drivers (moped, car and truck drivers), livestock on the roadways, and the poor condition of the roads. Overland travel off the main network of roads generally requires a four-wheel-drive vehicle. Many drivers in Togo do not obey traffic laws and most traffic signals do not function properly. Drivers should be prepared for other vehicles to run red lights and drive in the wrong direction on one-way streets.

Nighttime travel on unfamiliar roads is dangerous. Poorly marked checkpoints, often manned by armed, undisciplined soldiers, exist throughout the country, including in the capital. Banditry, including demands for bribes at checkpoints, has been reported on major inter-city highways, including the Lomé-Cotonou coastal highway. Travelers are advised to be aware of their surroundings and to drive defensively. At official checkpoints, Togolese security officials prefer that you approach with your dome light on, and have your driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance ready.

Americans should be aware of the staged-accident ploy when driving in Lomé. In this scam, a motorbike will cut in front of you, cause a collision, and draw a crowd, which can turn hostile if you attempt to leave the scene of the so-called accident. Such encounters appear designed to extort money from the vehicle driver. Pedestrians also cause staged accidents. Genuine accidents can also draw hostile crowds. Travelers should drive with their car doors locked and windows closed, and have a cell phone in the vehicle. If you are involved in this kind of accident and can drive away, you should leave the scene, drive to a safe location, and alert both the police and the U.S. Embassy.

Travelers are advised to exercise caution when using any form of local public transportation. Never get into a taxi with unknown passengers and always agree on the fare before getting in.

Aviation Safety Oversight: As there is no direct commercial air service between the United States and Togo, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not assessed Togo’s Civil Aviation Authority for compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) aviation safety standards. For more information, travelers may visit the FAA’s Internet website at http://www.faa.gov.

Special Circumstances: Power outages and voltage fluctuations are common throughout the country.

Only certain U.S. credit cards are accepted in Togo. Most major hotels and their restaurants accept American Express, MasterCard, and Visa, while smaller hotels and restaurants do not. Travelers planning to use credit cards should know which cards are accepted before they commit to any transaction. Travelers should keep all credit card receipts, as unauthorized card use and overcharging are common. There are some Automatic Teller Machines that dispense local currency in major banks and they are generally considered safe. Well-known money transfer firms, including Western Union, operate in Togo.

Photographing places affiliated with the government of Togo, including official government buildings, border crossings, checkpoints, police stations, military bases, utility buildings, airports, government vehicles, and government or military personnel, is strictly prohibited and your cameras and film may be confiscated. Government buildings are not always clearly identifiable, as they vary from very well marked to not marked at all.

Criminal Penalties: While in a foreign country, a U.S. citizen is subject to that country’s laws and regulations, which sometimes differ significantly from those in the United States and may not afford the protections available to the individual under U.S. law. Penalties for breaking the law can be more severe than in the United States for similar offenses. Persons violating Togo’s laws, even unknowingly, may be expelled, arrested or imprisoned. Penalties for possession, use, or trafficking in illegal drugs in Togo are severe, and convicted offenders can expect long jail sentences and heavy fines. Engaging in sexual conduct with children or using or disseminating child pornography in a foreign country is a crime, prosecutable in the United States.

Children’s Issues: For information on international adoption of children and international parental child abduction, see the Office of Children’s Issues website at http://travel.state.gov/family/family_1732.html.

Registration/Embassy Locations: Americans living or traveling in Togo are encouraged to register with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate through the State Department’s travel registration website and to obtain updated information on travel and security within Togo. Americans without Internet access may register directly with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. By registering, American citizens make it easier for the Embassy or Consulate to contact them in case of emergency. The U.S. Embassy is located on Boulevard Eyadema, Neighborhood Lomé II, Lomé; telephone (228) 261-5470, fax (228) 261-5499. The local mailing address is B.P. 852, Lomé. Its website is http://lome.usembassy.gov/.

International Adoption : December 2006

The information below has been edited from a report of the State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs, Office of Overseas Citizens Services. For more information, please read the International Adoption section of this book and review current reports online at www.travel.state.gov/family.

Disclaimer: The information in this flyer relating to the legal requirements of specific foreign countries is based on public sources and current understanding. Questions involving foreign and U.S. immigration laws and legal interpretation should be addressed respectively to qualified foreign or U.S. legal counsel.

Patterns of Immigration: Recent U.S. immigrant visa statistics indicate that only one orphan visa has been issued to a Togolese child within the past five fiscal years.

Adoption Authority: According to the Togolese Civil Code (article 224), the request for adoption must be presented to the Court of the residence of the adoptee. However, the High Court of Lomé has jurisdiction over inter-country adoptions by default. While a High Court Judge may pronounce a full and final adoption, he/she may do so only after consulting with the Ministry of Social Affairs, and specifically the Adoption office within. The High Court, with the assistance of the Ministry of Social Affairs, will identify and match a child with potential adoptive parents if needed.

High Court of Lomé
Tel: (228) 221 56 39
(this is in fact the social affairs office’s number)
B.P. 342
Lomé, Togo

Eligibility Requirements for Adoptive Parents: According to articles 209 and 210 of the Togolese Civil Code, both married couples (married for at least five years, not separated, and one spouse above 30 years old) and single individuals of 35 years old or older may adopt, provided that at the time of their application to adopt a Togolese child, the applicants do not already have biological children together (a couple with biological children from another union may adopt as long as they have no biological children together at the time of the adoption). The Ministry of Social Affairs does not allow same sex couples to adopt in Togo.

Residency Requirements: There are no residency requirements for intercountry adoptions.

Time Frame: When the adoption concerns a child chosen by the adoptive parents, the process can take up to three (3) months, and in some much cases, longer. When the government places a child with prospective adoptive parents, the length of time will vary depending of the complexity of the case and availability of a child.

Adoption Agencies and Attorneys: There are no private adoption agencies in Togo and attorneys are not authorized to sign adoption decrees. (The only document that notaries are authorized to issue is the Notarized Adoption Consent to be included in file for the Court review and decision. The Notarized Adoption Consent document occurs only after a home study. Notaries can assist prospective parents in locating the correct office responsible for each paper. They can give some local guidance in what can be a very confusing bureaucratic process. Prospective adoptive parents can expect to pay attorneys fees for services rendered.

Prospective adoptive parents should contact the U.S. Embassy in Lomé for an updated list of local notaries. Please be advised that some lawyers and notaries may promise to facilitate adoptions or help families overcome legal ineligibilities preventing them from adopting in Togo. The Ministry of Social Affairs has emphasized that these lawyers have no influence in the adoption process, only the High Court and Social Affairs do. The Ministry of Social Affairs has reiterated that the Adoption laws are not flexible and must be abided by fully.

Adoption Fees: Fees involved in the adoption procedure vary from case to case. Prospective adoptive parents should expect to pay a minimum of $150 to as high as $1,000. Also, applicants should include a self-addressed envelope for return postage in their application package to the High Court. The standard postage to the U.S. is CFA 650, which is a little over a dollar. Prospective adoptive parents may wish to consult with overseas delivery services to find out the exact price for pre-paid envelopes for document deliveries from Togo.

Adoption Procedures: An adoption file should first start with an appointment with the officer in charge of adoption at the High Court of Lomé. Tel: (228) 221 56 39. The U.S. Embassy can set up the appointment for you. The documents and fees incorporated in this flyer should be taken as a guideline; procedures tend to change frequently and without notice, so the court officer will be able to give you specific information on what will be required for each case. An Application for adoption in form of a letter should be addressed to the President of the High Court of Lomé or the Court of residence of the adoptee together with a required documentation listed below. If a couple initiated the application, both should sign the letter.

The file should be addressed to:

Service Social près le Tribunal de
Première Instance de Lomé
B.P. 342
Contact: Mr. Djikounou Kodjo
911 5026
Lomé, Togo
Tel. 221 5639

If the adoptive parents have not yet identified a child, the High Court can identify a child who is eligible for adoption.

The High Court works with a local NGO (Terre des Hommes) and orphanages.

Documentary Requirements:

• The adoption request to the President of the High Court of Lomé or other competent court with exact age and gender of prospective adoptee;
• A police clearance certificate for each applicant (in the case of a couple);
• A legalized copy of birth certificate for each applicant (in the case of a couple);
• A legalized copy of marriage certificate for couple;
• A Medical certificate for each applicant;
• A Proof of financial resources (e.g. pay slips/latest bank statement);
• An approved I-600A from USCIS;
• A copy of the Home Study report;
• A copy of the psychological investigation report;
• Photographs (of applicants and their apartment/home);
• Letters of recommendation from family, friends or acquaintances;
• A prepaid or pre-stamped envelope;
• A Notarized Adoption Consent document expressing the consent of both parties (in the case of an adoption by consent).

Simple versus Plenary/Full adoption: For the moment Togolese law does not recognize simple adoption and only offers plenary/full adoptions. Plenary adoption severs the biological ties of a child with his biological antecedents and replaces them with a new identity, that of his adoptive parents (Note: Simple adoption has been proposed in the new Civil Code of Law, but has not, as of December 2006, been ratified by the Parliament. Even then, simple adoption, in correlation with the Hague Convention, will not be relevant to intercountry adoptions.)

Adoption versus Legal Guardianship: Togolese child and family law stipulates that the legal guardianship of a child or the delegation of parental authority can be granted in cases where the child is an orphan, or in instances where he/she is considered abandoned or needy with no family to provide elementary care. The legal guardianship and the delegation of parental authority can be an alternative to adoption and not a conduit to adoption. While by effect of law, the adoption creates a relation of affiliation independently of the origin of the adoptee; the legal guardianship and the delegation of parental authority rather authorize the placement of a child with a family until his/her age of majority. The legal guardianship and the delegation of parental authority can be ended at any time by decision of the Court if new conditions arise. The High Court, in conjunction with the Ministry of Social Affairs, grants legal guardianship and delegation of parental authority in consideration of the highest interest of the child. However, the Court does not authorize the child to be placed or taken out of the country in view of a full and final adoption. Hence, obtaining custody of a child in order to bring that child to the U.S. to complete an adoption is not legal and should not be envisaged.

Embassy of the Republic of Togo:
2208 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20008
Tel: 202-234-4212/3

U.S. Immigration Requirements: Prospective adopting parents are strongly encouraged to consult U.S. CIS publication M-249, The Immigration of Adopted and Prospective Adopting Children, as well as the Department of State publication, International Adoptions. Please see the International Adoption section of this book for more details and review current reports online at www.travel.state.gov/family.

U.S. Embassy in Togo:
International Mailing Address
Boulevard Eyadema
B.P. 852
Lomé, Togo

U.S. Mailing Address
Department of State
2300 Lomé Place
Washington, DC 20521-2300

Additional Information: Specific questions about adoption in Togo may be addressed to the U.S. Embassy in Lomé. General questions regarding intercountry adoption may be addressed to the Office of Children’s Issues, U.S. Department of State, CA/OCS/CI, SA-29, 4th Floor, 2201 C Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20520-4818, toll-free Tel: 1-888-407-4747.