Eyadema, Gnassingbe

▪ 2006

Étienne Eyadéma 

      Togolese soldier and president (b. Dec. 26, 1935, Pya, Togoland [now Togo]—d. Feb. 5, 2005, en route from Togo to France), was, at the time of his death, Africa's longest-serving political leader, having ruled Togo with near-dictatorial power for more than 37 years. During his long tenure Eyadéma established a single-party state under his Rally of the Togolese People and drew frequent condemnation from Amnesty International and other groups. Despite charges of corruption and human rights abuses, he wielded considerable influence with France (Togo's former colonial master), helped to found the Economic Community of West African States, and was instrumental in several international agreements, notably the 1975 Lomé Convention. After serving as a sergeant in the French army, Eyadéma returned to Togo, where he participated in the January 1963 military assassination of Pres. Sylvanus Olympio and the installation of Nicolas Grunitzky as Togo's president. Five years later the army overthrew Grunitzky and named Eyadéma president and defense minister. Although he initially brought political stability and economic growth to Togo, the country later suffered from corruption and mismanagement, as well as internal uprisings and international economic sanctions that were imposed in 1993. Eyadéma, who took the name Gnassingbé as part of an Africanization program, ran unopposed for reelection in 1979 and 1986. He briefly relinquished power to a transitional government in 1991 but was reelected amid accusations of electoral fraud in nominally democratic ballots in 1993 and 1998. In 2001 he pledged to retire in two years, but after amending the constitution to end the presidential term limit, he was elected again in 2003. Eyadéma, who had survived several assassination attempts, died while being flown to France for emergency medical treatment.

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▪ president of Togo

original name  Étienne Eyadéma 

born December 26, 1935, Pya, Togoland [now Togo]

died February 5, 2005, en route from Togo to France

      soldier who became president of Togo after a military takeover in January 1967.

      Eyadéma joined the French army in 1953, served in Indochina, Dahomey, Niger, and Algeria (1953–61), and had attained the rank of sergeant when he returned to Togo in 1962. When President Sylvanus Olympio (Olympio, Sylvanus) refused to take 626 Togolese veterans of French wars into Togo's tiny army, a group of them, including Eyadéma, assassinated him in an otherwise almost bloodless military coup (January 1963) and installed a civilian, Nicolas Grunitzky, as president. After an abortive coup by members of the Ewe people of southern Togo in November 1966, the army took over directly in January 1967 and in April made its chief of staff, Eyadéma, president and minister of national defense. He invited past political exiles to return, and in 1969 he set up a new unity party (the Togolese People's Rally) and became its president. In the mid-1970s Eyadéma sought to strengthen the country's nationalism by ordering the citizens of Togo to assume African first names, himself adopting the name Gnassingbé. He was elected to the presidency of Togo in one-party elections held in 1979 and 1985.

      Eyadéma's long rule brought a measure of stability to Togo, and his nationalization of the country's phosphate industry in 1974 produced increased state revenues for development. The economic gains achieved in the 1970s were largely negated in the '80s, however, by governmental mismanagement and corruption. In the early 1990s, faced with growing unrest with his rule, Eyadéma legalized political parties, freed political prisoners, and agreed to a democratic constitution. He surrendered his power to a transitional government in 1991 while awaiting multiparty elections. Though he was easily reelected in 1993, there were allegations of electoral fraud, a charge that was repeated at subsequent elections. In 1998 Eyadéma started what should have been, under the terms of the constitution, his final term as president. But in 2002 the constitution was amended to abolish term limits, and Eyadéma was reelected in 2003, again amid allegations of electoral fraud.

      In early 2005 Eyadéma suffered a heart attack in his hometown of Pya, and, while seeking medical treatment, he died en route to France. His son, Faure Gnassingbé, succeeded him as president.

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