National name: R�publique Togolaise

President: Gen. Gnassingb� Eyadema (1967)

Prime Minister: Agbeyome Messan Kodjo (2000)

Area: 21,925 sq mi (56,785 sq km)

Population (2001 est.): 5,153,088 (average annual rate of natural increase: 2.6%); birth rate: 37.0/1000; infant mortality rate: 70.4/1000; density per sq mi: 235

Capital and largest city (1983): Lom�, 366,476

Monetary unit: Franc CFA

Languages: French (official), Ew�, Mina (south), Kaby�, Cotocoli (north), and many dialects

Ethnicity/race: native African (37 tribes; largest and most important are Ewe, Mina, and Kabre) 99%, European and Syrian-Lebanese less than 1%

Religions: Indigenous beliefs 70%, Christian 20%, Islam 10%

Literacy rate: 43% (1990)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (1999 est.): $8.6 billion; per capita $1,700. Real growth rate: 4%. Inflation: 3%. Unemployment: n.a. Arable land: 38%. Agriculture: coffee, cocoa, cotton, yams, cassava (tapioca), corn, beans, rice, millet, sorghum; livestock; fish. Labor force: 1.538 million (1993 est.); agriculture, 65%; industry, 5%; services, 30% (1998 est.). Industries: phosphate mining, agricultural processing, cement; handicrafts, textiles, beverages. Natural resources: phosphates, limestone, marble, arable land. Exports: $400 million (f.o.b., 1999): cotton, phosphates, coffee, cocoa. Imports: $450 million (f.o.b., 1999): machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum products. Major trading partners: Canada, Philippines, Ghana, France, Cote d'Ivoire, China.

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 22,000 (1995); mobile cellular: n.a. Radio broadcast stations: AM 2, FM 9, shortwave 4 (1998). Radios: 940,000 (1997). Television broadcast stations: 3 (plus two repeaters) (1997). Televisions: 73,000 (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 1 (1999).

Transportation: Railways: total: 525 km (1995). Highways: total: 7,520 km; paved: 2,376 km; unpaved: 5,144 km (1996 est.). Waterways: 50 km Mono river. Ports and harbors: Kpeme, Lome. Airports: 9 (1999 est.).

International disputes: none.

Geography

Togo, twice the size of Maryland, is on the south coast of West Africa bordering on Ghana to the west, Burkina Faso to the north and Benin to the east. The Gulf of Guinea coastline, only 32 mi long (51 km), is low and sandy. The only port is at Lom�. The Togo hills traverse the central section.

Republic.

The Voltaic peoples and the Kwa were the earliest known inhabitants. The Ewe followed in the 14th century, and the Ane in the 18th century. The Danish claimed the land in the 18th century, but by 1884 it was established as a German colony (Togoland). The area was split between the British and the French under League of Nations mandates after World War I and subsequently administered as UN trusteeships. The British portion voted for incorporation with Ghana. The French portion became Togo, which declared its independence on April 27, 1960.

Togo's first democratically elected president, Sylvano Olympius, was overthrown in 1963. He was shot by Sergeant Etienne Eyadema while he attempted to scale the walls of the American Embassy to seek asylum. The government of Nicolas Grunitzky was overthrown in a bloodless coup on Jan. 13, 1967, led by Lt. Col. Etienne Eyadema (now called Gen. Gnassingb� Eyadema). A National Reconciliation Committee was set up to rule the country, but in April, Eyadema dissolved the committee and took over as president. He suspended the constitution, banned political parties, and created a cult of personality around his presidency�his official biography describes him as a �force of nature.� Under pressure from the west, Eyadema legalized opposition parties in 1993, but the first multiparty presidential election in Aug. 1993 (which gave Eyadema more than 96% of the vote), was considered fraudulent, as was his 1998 reelection. In 2001, Eyadema was the longest serving ruler in Africa�34 years.