Gnassingbe, Faure

▪ 2006

 When the longtime president of Togo, Gen. Gnassingbé Eyadéma, died in February 2005, the military named his son Faure Gnassingbé his successor. International leaders denounced the move as a coup, in violation of Togo's 1992 constitution, so Gnassingbé stepped down, agreeing to proper democratic elections, which were held in April. He won them handily and on May 4 was officially installed as president. Gnassingbé's accession to the post, however, was accompanied by violent opposition protests. Despite finding isolated irregularities, the official delegation from the Economic Community of West African States declared the elections free and fair, and the Constitutional Court rejected the claims of opposition leaders that Gnassingbé's victory at the polls had been rigged.

      Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé was born on June 6, 1966, in the town of Afagnan in southeastern Togo. The following year his father took power in Togo during a military coup. As the son of the country's leader, Gnassingbé enjoyed a certain level of privilege. He was educated in Paris at the Sorbonne, where he studied economics and international relations. He also earned a master's degree in business administration from George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Returning to Togo, he became involved in the management of his family's business affairs, serving as a financial adviser to his father.

      For some years prior to Eyadéma's death, it had seemed to some observers that Gnassingbé was being groomed to succeed him as president. In June 2002 Gnassingbé ran for the parliament as a member of the ruling Rally of the Togolese People and won a seat from the city of Blitta. Later his father appointed him minister of telecommunications, mines, and equipment. The only one of Eyadéma's many sons to enter politics, Gnassingbé was viewed as a quiet, calm figure who was trusted by the military. At the end of 2002, the constitution was amended to lower the eligibility age for the presidency from 40 to 35 (Gnassingbé was 36), and in 2003 the management of presidential elections was transferred from an independent commission to the Ministry of the Interior.

      Upon taking the oath of office in 2005, Gnassingbé pledged to work toward “development, the common good, peace, and national unity” in Togo. His initial effort at forming a coalition government with the country's main opposition party failed in June, although Gnassingbé later sought to reopen talks. He also sought warmer relations with the European Union in hopes of restoring the Western aid that had been curtailed in 1993 over concerns of human rights violations in Togo.

Tom Michael

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