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Togo

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: African Countries;
Countries

   SOS Children works in Togo. For more information see SOS Children in
   Togo, Africa
                           République Togolaise
   Togolese Republic

   Flag of Togo Coat of Arms of Togo
   Flag         Coat of Arms
   Motto: "Travail, Liberté, Patrie"  (French)
   "Work, Liberty, Homeland"
   Anthem: Salut à toi, pays de nos aïeux  (French)
   "Hail to thee, land of our forefathers"
   Location of Togo
          Capital        Lomé
                         6°7′N 1°13′E
       Largest city      Lomé
    Official languages   French
   Government            Republic
    - President          Faure Gnassingbé
    - Prime Minister     Yawovi Agboyibo
       Independence
    - from France        April 27, 1960
                                   Area
    - Total              56,785 km² ( 125th)
                         21,925 sq mi
    - Water (%)          4.2
                                Population
    - July 2005 estimate 6.1 million ( 102th^1)
    - Density            108/km² ( 93rd^2)
                         280/sq mi
        GDP ( PPP)       2005 estimate
    - Total              $8.965 billion ( 144th^1)
    - Per capita         $1,700 ( 193rd^1)
        HDI  (2003)      0.512 (medium) ( 143rd)
         Currency        CFA franc ( XOF)
         Time zone       GMT ( UTC+0)
       Internet TLD      .tg
       Calling code      +228
   ^1 Estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects
   of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life
   expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population
   and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age
   and sex than would otherwise be expected. Rankings based on 2005
   figures CIA World Factbook - Togo
   ^2 Rankings based on 2005 figures (source unknown)

   Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa
   bordering Ghana in the west, Benin in the east and Burkina Faso in the
   north. In the south, it has a short Gulf of Guinea coast, on which the
   capital Lomé is located.

History

   Western history does not record what happened in Togo before the
   Portuguese arrived in the late fifteenth century. During the period
   from the eleventh century to the sixteenth century, various tribes
   entered the region from all directions: the Ewé from Nigeria and Benin;
   and the Mina and Guin from Ghana. Most settled in coastal areas. When
   the slave trade began in earnest in the sixteenth century, the Mina
   benefited the most. For the next two hundred years, the coastal region
   was a major raiding centre 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. After World War II, the mandate became a UN trust
   territory administered by the United Kingdom and France. The residents
   of British Togoland voted to join the Gold Coast as part of the new
   independent nation of Ghana, and French Togoland became an autonomous
   republic within the French Union. Independence came in 1960 under
   Sylvanus Olympio. Decades of political instability followed that
   cultiminated in the very first coup d'etat in Africa, when Lt. Col.
   Étienne Eyadéma usurped power in a coup January 13, 1967.

   Gnassingbe Eyadema died in early 2005 after thirty-eight years in
   power, as Africa's longest sitting dictator. The military's immediate
   but short-lived installation of his son, Faure Gnassingbe, as president
   provoked widespread international condemnation. Mr Faure stood down and
   called elections which he won two months later. The opposition said the
   vote was rigged. The developments of 2005 led to renewed questions
   about a commitment to democracy made by Togo in 2004 in a bid to
   normalise ties with the EU, which cut off aid in 1993 over the
   country's human rights record. Moreover, up to 500 people were killed
   in the political violence surrounding the presidential poll, according
   to the UN. Around 40,000 Togolese fled to neighbouring countries.

Geography

   Satellite image of Togo, generated from raster graphics data supplied
   by The Map Library
   Enlarge
   Satellite image of Togo, generated from raster graphics data supplied
   by The Map Library

   Togo is a small, thin sub-Saharan nation. It borders the Bight of Benin
   in the south; Ghana lies to the west; Benin to the east; and to the
   north Togo is bound by Burkina Faso.

   In the north the land is characterized by a gently rolling savannah in
   contrast to the centre of the country, which is characterized by hills.
   The south of Togo is characterized by a plateau which reaches to a
   coastal plain with extensive lagoons and marshes. The land size is
   21,925 square miles (56,785 km²), with an average population density of
   253 people per square mile (98/km²).in 1914 it changed from togoland to
   togo

Administrative divisions

   Togo is divided into five regions, which are subdivided in turn into
   twenty-three prefectures. From north to south the regions are Savanes,
   Kara, Centrale, Plateaux and Maritime.

Economy

   Togo's small sub-Saharan economy is heavily dependent on both
   commercial and subsistence agriculture, which provides employment for
   65% of the labor force. Cocoa, coffee, and cotton together generate
   about 30% of export earnings. Togo is self-sufficient in basic
   foodstuffs when harvests are normal, with occasional regional supply
   difficulties. In the industrial sector, phosphate mining is by far the
   most important activity, although it has suffered from the collapse of
   world phosphate prices and increased foreign competition. Togo's GNI
   per capita is US $380 (World Bank, 2005).

   Togo serves as a regional commercial and trade centre. The government's
   decade-long effort, supported by the World Bank and the IMF, to
   implement economic reform measures, encourage foreign investment, and
   bring revenues in line with expenditures, has stalled. Political
   unrest, including private and public sector strikes throughout 1992 and
   1993, jeopardized the reform program, shrank the tax base, and
   disrupted vital economic activity. The 12 January 1994 devaluation of
   the currency by 50% provided an important impetus to renewed structural
   adjustment; these efforts were facilitated by the end of strife in 1994
   and a return to overt political calm. Progress depends on following
   through on privatization, increased openness in government financial
   operations (to accommodate increased social service outlays), and
   possible downsizing of the military, on which the regime has depended
   to stay in place. Lack of aid, along with depressed cocoa prices,
   generated a 1% fall in GDP in 1998, with growth resuming in 1999.
   Assuming no deterioration of the political atmosphere, growth should
   rise to 5% a year in 2000-2001.

Religion

   According to the CIA Factbook, 51% of the Togolese people follow
   indigenous African beliefs. The second largest religious group in Togo
   are Christians, who make up 29% of the population. The other 20% follow
   Islam.

   In addition to following local animist beliefs, most people identify
   themselves as either Christian or Muslim.

Politics

   Togo's transition to democracy is stalled. Its democratic institutions
   remain nascent and fragile. President Eyadéma, who ruled Togo under a
   one-party system for nearly twenty-five of his thirty-seven years in
   power, died of a heart attack on February 5, 2005. Under the
   constitution, the speaker of parliament, Fambaré Ouattara Natchaba,
   should have become president, pending a new election. Natchaba was out
   of the country, returning on an Air France plane from Paris. The
   Togolese army closed the nation's borders, forcing the plane to land in
   nearby Benin. With an engineered power vacuum, the army announced that
   Eyadéma's son Faure Gnassingbé, also known as Faure Eyadéma, who had
   been the communications minister, would succeed him. The constitution
   of Togo declared that in the case of the president's death, the speaker
   of Parliament takes his place, and has sixty days to call new
   elections. However, on February 6th, Parliament retroactively changed
   the Constitution, declaring that Faure would hold office for the rest
   of his father's term, with elections deferred until 2008. The stated
   justification was that Natchaba was out of the country. . The
   government also moved to remove Natchaba as speaker and replaced him
   with Faure Gnassingbé, who was sworn in on February 7, 2005, despite
   the international criticism of the succession.

   The African Union described the takeover as a military coup d'état.
   International pressure came also from the United Nations. Within Togo,
   opposition to the takeover culminated in riots in which several hundred
   died. In the village of Aného reports of a general civilian uprising
   followed by a large scale massacre by government troop went largely
   unreported. In response, Gnassingbé agreed to hold elections and on
   February 25, Gnassingbé resigned as president, but soon afterwards
   accepted the nomination to run for the office in April. On April 24,
   2005, Gnassingbé was elected president of Togo, receiving over 60% of
   the vote according to official results. However fraud was suspected as
   cause of his election, due to a lack of presence of the European Union
   or other such oversight. See the History section of this article for
   details. Parliament designated Deputy Speaker Bonfoh Abbass as interim
   president until the inauguration of the election winner.

Current political situation

   On May 3, 2005, Gnassingbé was sworn in as the new president garnering
   60% of the vote according to official results. Disquiet has continued
   however with the opposition declaring the voting rigged, claiming the
   military stole ballot boxes from various polling stations in the South,
   as well as other election irregularities, such as telecommunication
   shutdown. The European Union has suspended aid in support of the
   opposition claims, while the African Union and the United States have
   declared the vote "reasonably fair" and accepted the outcome. The
   Nigerian president and Chair of the AU, Olusẹgun Ọbasanjọ, has sought
   to negotiate between the incumbent government and the opposition to
   establish a coalition government, but rejected an AU Commission
   appointment of former Zambian president, Kenneth Kaunda, as special AU
   envoy to Togo ( and ). Later in June, President Gnassingbe named
   opposition leader Edem Kodjo as the prime Minister.

   As of April 2006 reconciliation talks between the government and the
   opposition are in progress; said talks were suspended after Eyadema's
   death in 2005. In August the government and the opposition signed an
   accord providing for the participation of opposition parties in a
   transitional government.

Culture and sport

   Togo's culture reflects the influences of its thirty-seven tribal
   ethnic groups, the largest and most influential of which are the Ewe,
   Mina, and Kabre. French is the official language of Togo, but many
   native African languages are spoken there as well. Despite the
   influences of Christianity and Islam, over half of the people of Togo
   follow native animistic practices and beliefs.

   Ewe statuary is characterized by its famous statuettes which illustrate
   the worship of the twins, the ibéji. Sculptures and hunting trophies
   were used rather than the more ubiquitous African masks. The
   wood-carvers of Kloto are famous for their "chains of marriage": two
   characters are connected by rings drawn from only one piece of wood.

   The dyed fabric batiks of the artisanal centre of Kloto represent
   stylized and coloured scenes of ancient everyday life. The loincloths
   used in the ceremonies of the tisserands of Assahoun are famous. Works
   of the painter Sokey Edorh are inspired by the immense arid extents,
   swept by the harmattan, and where the laterite keeps the prints of the
   men and the animals. The plastics technician Paul Ahyi is
   internationally recognized today. He practises the " zota", a kind of
   pyroengraving, and his monumental achievements decorate Lome.

Football

   As in much of Africa, football is the most popular sporting pursuit.
   Until 2006, Togo was very much a minor force in world football, but
   like fellow West African nations such as Senegal, Nigeria and Cameroon
   before them, the Togolese national team finally qualified for the World
   Cup. The team's star player is Emmanuel Adebayor, who currently plays
   for English Premiership club, Arsenal. Togo was knocked out of the
   tournament in the group stage after losing to South Korea, Switzerland
   and France. Photo of the team

   Togo's 2006 World Cup appearance was marred by a dispute over financial
   bonuses, a situation that almost led to the team boycotting their match
   against Switzerland. Eventually, Togo did fulfil all three fixtures,
   failing to qualify for the second round of the competition.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Togo"
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