Talk:1963 Togolese coup d'état

Excellent job of white washing.

I'm impressed by Wikipedia's job of whitewashing the French role in Olympio's assassination. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 106.185.42.133 (talk) 03:05, 19 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Yes, indeed, the article is biased in so far as it is silent on the crucial French role in the coup. The author(s) should revise it in taking due account of the following facts:

"The murder of the first president of the newly independent Togo, Sylvanus Olympio, on 13 January 1963 by a group of Togolese veterans of the French colonial army, led by Sergeant Etienne Gnassingbé (later called Eyadéma) and tolerated, if not instigated, by the former French colonial power, opened up a Pandora’s box (Toulabor 1986; Decalo 1996; Cornevin 1988; Kohnert 2005; Koffi 1998). It was the first violent coup in the history of independent sub-Saharan Africa. Although unanimously condemned by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in the beginning, the condemnation by African statesmen soon turned back to a state of acceptance and/or nonacknowledgement. Military coups, often backed by Cold War politics of Western powers, became a familiar solution of political contest in Africa up to date." (Kohnert, D. (2011): Togo: Thorny transitions and misguided aid at the roots of economic misery. IN: Saine, Abdoulaye / N ’Diaye, Boubacar / Houngnikpoet, Mathurin (eds.) (2011): Elections and democratization in West Africa 1990 – 2009. Trenton: Africa World Press (AWP), 2011: 179-210). According to Decalo (Historical dicitonary of Togo, 1996:103) the veterans who had petioned President Olympio to be integrated into the small Togolese army "had been supported by several French officiers then training the army." Before independence, the French administration of French Togo, which was not part of the French West Africa, but the territory's governor was dircetly responsible to the Minister of Overseas France in Paris (Decalo 1996:138) was "sharply critized for its arbitrariness and continuation of the pro-French and unrepresentative regime of Grunitzky, and reflection of a lack of coordination of French policy with that of British Togo." (Decalo, 1996:139). Olympio tried to weaken Togo's dependence on the former colonial power, e.g. by establishing closer links to the Federal Republic of Germany, which was sharply opposed by French foreign and military policy and the interest of the Messieurs Afrique. (see: Toulabor, C. M. 1986. Le Togo sous Eyadéma. Paris: Karthala; Toulabor, C. M. 2005. Togo: Les forces armées togolaises et le dispositif sécuritaire de contrôle (1&2). CEAN & Sciences-Po, Bordeaux/Paris. http://www.letogolais.com/ (accessed October, 7, 2005; Cornevin, R. 1988. Le Togo: Des origines à nos jours. Paris: Acad. des Sc. D´Outre-Mer; Koffi, K. 1998. Les élection au Togo – cinquante ans de passions politiques. Afrique contemporaine 185, 1: 35-52; Kohnert, D. 2005. Togo: Ein Lehrstück fehlgeleiteter Demokratisierung (Togo: a didactic drama of misled democratisation in Africa, in German). Institut für Afrika-Kunde. Afrika im Blickpunkt, 1: 1-10). DFK, --Dirk-Franz (talk) 17:25, 28 June 2016 (UTC)


 * Just a note: Wikipedia is open for anyone to edit. Please feel free to add any and all content you want to the discussion. There are no owners or gardeners of this article--if you see a problem, then please fix it. A number of the facts above are in the article already, but if you think they need more emphasis, then feel free to add that. AbstractIllusions (talk) 14:47, 22 September 2016 (UTC)

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