Togo Country Facts - Tips

Togo Country Facts - Tips

Togo Country Facts Bureau of African Affairs
August 2007

Background Note: Togo Country Facts

Women at a local cloth market in
Lome, Togo, February 10, 2005. [© AP
Images]

Flag of Togo is five equal horizontal bands of green - top and bottom -
alternating with yellow; there is a white five-pointed star on a red square
in the upper hoist-side corner.

PROFILE

OFFICIAL NAME:
Togolese Republic

Geography
Area: 56,785 sq. km.; slightly smaller than West Virginia.
Cities: Capital (pop. 2004 est.) Lome--850,000.
Terrain: Savannah and hills and coastal plain.
Climate: Tropical.

People
Nationality: Noun and adjective (sing. and pl.)--Togolese.
Population (2004): 5,000,000.
Annual growth rate (2004): 2.1%.
Ethnic groups: Ewe, Mina, Kabye, Cotocoli, Moba.
Religions (est.): Animist 33%, Christian 47.1%, Muslim 13.7%, other 6.1%.
Languages: French (official), local (Ewe, Mina, Kabye).
Education: Attendance (2000)--62% of age group 5-19 enrolled. Literacy (2003)
--male 75%, female 47%.
Health: Life expectancy (2003)--male 51 yrs, female 55 yrs.
Work force: (1999 est.) Total--2 million (43% of the total population); rural
work force (est.)--1,350,000; urban work force (est.)--650,000.

Government
Type: Republic.
Independence: April 27, 1960 (from French-administered UN trusteeship).
Constitution: Adopted 1992.
Branches: Executive--president (chief of state); prime minister (head of
government). Legislative--National Assembly. Judicial--Supreme Court.
Subdivisions: 30 prefectures.
Political parties: Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais (RPT); Union des Forces
de Changement (UFC); Comite d'action pour le Renouveau (CAR), Pan-African
Patriotic Convergence Party (CPP).
Suffrage: Universal adult.
National holiday: Independence Day, April 27.

Economy
GDP (2004): $2.1 billion.
Per capita income (2004): $380.
Natural resources: Phosphates, limestone, marble.
Agriculture (40.1% of 2002 GDP): Products--yams, cassava, corn, millet,
sorghum, cocoa, coffee, rice, cotton.
Industry (21.6% of 2002 GDP): Types--mining, manufacturing, construction,
energy.
Services: 38.3% of 2002 GDP.
Trade: (2002): Exports--$438 million: phosphates, cocoa, coffee, cotton.
Imports--$662 million: consumer goods, including foodstuffs, fabrics,
clothes, vehicles, equipment. Major partners--Ghana, France, Cote d'Ivoire,
Germany, Nigeria, Canada, People's Republic of China, Benin.

GEOGRAPHY
Togo is bounded by Ghana, Burkina Faso, Benin, and the Gulf of Guinea. It
stretches 579 kilometers (360 mi.) north from the gulf and is only 160
kilometers (100 mi.) wide at the broadest point. The country consists
primarily of two savanna plains regions separated by a southwest-northwest
range of hills (the Chaine du Togo).

Togo's climate varies from tropical to savanna. The south is humid, with
temperatures ranging from 23oC to 32oC (75oF to 90oF). In the north,
temperature fluctuations are greater--from 18oC to more than 38oC (65oF to
100oF).

PEOPLE
Togo's population of 4.97 million people (2003 est.) is composed of about 21
ethnic groups. The two major groups are the Ewe in the South and the Kabye in
the North. Population distribution is very uneven due to soil and terrain
variations. The population is generally concentrated in the south and along
the major north-south highway connecting the coast to the Sahel. Age
distribution also is uneven; nearly one-half of the Togolese are less than 15
years of age. The ethnic groups of the coastal region, particularly the Ewes
(about 21% of the population), constitute the bulk of the civil servants,
professionals, and merchants, due in part to the former colonial
administrations which provided greater infrastructure development in the
south. The Kabye (12% of the population) live on marginal land and
traditionally have emigrated south from their home area in the Kara region to
seek employment. Their historical means of social advancement has been
through the military and law enforcement forces, and they continue to
dominate these services.

Most of the southern peoples use the Ewe or Mina languages, which are closely
related and spoken in commercial sectors throughout Togo. French, the
official language, is used in administration and documentation. The public
primary schools combine French with Ewe or Kabye as languages of instruction,
depending on the region. English is spoken in neighboring Ghana and is taught
in Togolese secondary schools. As a result, many Togolese, especially in the
south and along the Ghana border, speak some English.

HISTORY
The Ewes moved into the area which is now Togo from the Niger River valley
between the 12th and 14th centuries. During the 15th and 16th centuries,
Portuguese explorers and traders visited the coast. For the next 200 years,
the coastal region was a major raiding center 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. Because it became Germany's only self-supporting colony, Togoland was
known as its model possession. In 1914, Togoland was invaded by French and
British forces and fell after brief resistance. Following the war, Togoland
became a League of Nations mandate divided for administrative purposes
between France and the United Kingdom.

After World War II, the mandate became a UN trust territory administered by
the United Kingdom and France. During the mandate and trusteeship periods,
western Togo was administered as part of the British Gold Coast. In 1957, the
residents of British Togoland voted to join the Gold Coast as part of the new
independent nation of Ghana.

By statute in 1955, French Togo became an autonomous republic within the
French union, although it retained its UN trusteeship status. A legislative
assembly elected by universal adult suffrage had considerable power over
internal affairs, with an elected executive body headed by a prime minister
responsible to the legislature. These changes were embodied in a constitution
approved in a 1956 referendum. On September 10, 1956, Nicholas Grunitzky
became prime minister of the Republic of Togo. However, due to irregularities
in the plebiscite, an unsupervised general election was held in 1958 and won
by Sylvanus Olympio. On April 27, 1960, in a smooth transition, Togo severed
its constitutional ties with France, shed its UN trusteeship status, and
became fully independent under a provisional constitution with Olympio as
president.

A new constitution in 1961 established an executive president, elected for 7
years by universal suffrage and a weak National Assembly. The president was
empowered to appoint ministers and dissolve the assembly, holding a monopoly
of executive power. In elections that year, from which Grunitzky's party was
disqualified, Olympio's party won 90% of the vote and all 51 National
Assembly seats, and he became Togo's first elected president.

During this period, four principal political parties existed in Togo: the
leftist Juvento (Togolese youth movement); the Union Democratique des
Populations Togolaises (IDPT); the Parti Togolais Du Progres (PTP), founded
by Grunitzky but having limited support; and the Unite Togolaise (UT), the
party of President Olympio. Rivalries between elements of these parties had
begun as early as the 1940s, and they came to a head with Olympio dissolving
the opposition parties in January 1962 ostensibly because of plots against
the majority party government. Many opposition members, including Grunitzky,
fled to avoid arrest.

On January 13, 1963, President Olympio was assassinated in an uprising of
army non-commissioned officers dissatisfied with conditions following their
discharge from the French army. Grunitzky returned from exile 2 days later to
head a provisional government with the title of prime minister. On May 5,
1963, the Togolese adopted a new constitution which reinstated a multi-party
system, chose deputies from all political parties for the National Assembly,
and elected Grunitzky as president and Antoine Meatchi as vice president.
Nine days later, President Grunitzky formed a government in which all parties
were represented.

During the next several years, the Grunitzky government's power became
insecure. On November 21, 1966, an attempt to overthrow Grunitzky, inspired
principally by civilian political opponents in the UT party, was
unsuccessful. Grunitzky then tried to lessen his reliance on the army, but on
January 13, 1967, Lt. Col. Etienne Eyadema (later Gen. Gnassingbe Eyadema)
ousted President Grunitzky in a bloodless military coup. Political parties
were banned, and all constitutional processes were suspended. The committee
of national reconciliation ruled the country until April 14, when Eyadema
assumed the presidency. In late 1969, a single national political party, the
Assembly of the Togolese People (RPT), was created, and President Eyadema was
elected party president on November 29, 1969. In 1972, a national referendum,
in which Eyadema ran unopposed, confirmed his role as the country's
president.

In late 1979, Eyadema declared a third republic and a transition to greater
civilian rule with a mixed civilian and military cabinet. He garnered 99.97%
of the vote in uncontested presidential elections held in late 1979 and early
1980. A new constitution also provided for a national assembly to serve
primarily as a consultative body. Eyadema was reelected to a third
consecutive 7-year term in December 1986 with 99.5% of the vote in an
uncontested election. On September 23, 1986, a group of some 70 armed
Togolese dissidents crossed into Lome from Ghana in an unsuccessful attempt
to overthrow the Eyadema government.

In 1989 and 1990, Togo, like many other countries, was affected by the winds
of democratic change sweeping eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. On October
5, 1990, the trial of students who handed out antigovernment tracts sparked
riots in Lome. Antigovernment demonstrations and violent clashes with the
security forces marked the months that followed. In April 1991, the
government began negotiations with newly formed opposition groups and agreed
to a general amnesty that permitted exiled political opponents to return to
Togo. After a general strike and further demonstrations, the government and
opposition signed an agreement to hold a "national forum" on June 12, 1991.

The national forum, dominated by opponents of President Eyadema, opened in
July 1991 and immediately declared itself to be a sovereign "National
Conference." Although subjected to severe harassment from the government, the
conference drafted an interim constitution calling for a 1-year transitional
regime tasked with organizing free elections for a new government. The
conference selected Joseph Kokou Koffigoh, a lawyer and human rights group
head, as transitional prime minister but kept President Eyadema as chief of
state for the transition, although with limited powers.

A test of wills between the president and his opponents followed over the
next 3 years during which President Eyadema gradually gained the upper hand.
Frequent political paralysis and intermittent violence marked this period.
Following a vote by the transitional legislature (High Council of the
Republic) to dissolve the President's political party--the RPT--in November
1991, the army attacked the prime minister's office on December 3 and
captured the prime minister. Koffigoh then formed a second transition
government in January 1992 with substantial participation by ministers from
the President's party. Opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio, son of the slain
president Sylvanus Olympio, was ambushed and seriously wounded apparently by
soldiers on May 5, 1992.

In July and August 1992, a commission composed of presidential and opposition
representatives negotiated a new political agreement. On September 27, the
public overwhelmingly approved the text of a new, democratic constitution,
formally initiating Togo's fourth republic.

The democratic process was set back in October 1992, when elements of the
army held the interim legislature hostage for 24 hours. This effectively put
an end to the interim legislature. In retaliation, on November 16, opposition
political parties and labor unions declared a general strike intended to
force President Eyadema to agree to satisfactory conditions for elections.
The general strike largely shut down Lome for months and resulted in severe
damage to the economy.

In January 1993, President Eyadema declared the transition at an end and
reappointed Koffigoh as prime minister under Eyadema's authority. This set
off public demonstrations, and, on January 25, members of the security forces
fired on peaceful demonstrators, killing at least 19. In the ensuing days,
several security force members were waylaid and injured or killed by civilian
oppositionists. On January 30, 1994, elements of the military went on an
8-hour rampage throughout Lome, firing indiscriminately and killing at least
12 people. This incident provoked more than 300,000 Togolese to flee Lome for
Benin, Ghana, or the interior of Togo. Although most had returned by early
1996, some still remain abroad.

On March 25, 1993, armed Togolese dissident commandos based in Ghana attacked
Lome's main military camp and tried unsuccessfully to kill President Eyadema.
They inflicted significant casualties, however, which set off lethal
reprisals by the military against soldiers thought to be associated with the
attackers.

Under substantial domestic and foreign pressure and the burden of the general
strike, the presidential faction entered negotiations with the opposition in
early 1993. Four rounds of talks led to the July 11 Ouagadougou agreement
setting forth conditions for upcoming presidential and legislative elections
and ending the general strike as of August 3, 1993. The presidential
elections were set for August 25, but hasty and inadequate technical
preparations, concerns about fraud, and the lack of effective campaign
organization by the opposition led the chief opposition candidates--former
minister and Organization of African Unity Secretary General Edem Kodjo and
lawyer Yawovi Agboyibo--to drop out of the race before election day and to
call for a boycott. President Eyadema won the elections by a 96.42% vote
against token opposition. About 36% of the voters went to the polls; the
others boycotted.

Ghana-based armed dissidents launched a new commando attack on military sites
in Lome in January 1994. President Eyadema was unhurt, and the attack and
subsequent reaction by the Togolese armed forces resulted in hundreds of
deaths, mostly civilian. The government went ahead with legislative elections
on February 6 and February 20, 1994. In generally free and fair polls as
witnessed by international observers, the allied opposition parties UTD and
CAR together won a narrow majority in the National Assembly. On April 22,
President Eyadema named Edem Kodjo, the head of the smaller opposition party,
the UTD, as prime minister instead of Yawovi Agboyibo, whose CAR party had
far more seats. Kodjo's acceptance of the post of prime minister provoked the
CAR to break the opposition alliance and refuse to join the Kodjo government.

Kodjo was then forced to form a governing coalition with the RPT. Kodjo's
government emphasized economic recovery, building democratic institutions and
the rule of law and the return of Togolese refugees abroad. In early 1995,
the government made slow progress toward its goals, aided by the CAR's August
1995 decision to end a 9-month boycott of the National Assembly. However,
Kodjo was forced to reshuffle his government in late 1995, strengthening the
representation by Eyadema's RPT party, and he resigned in August 1996.
Eyadema reemerged with a sure grip on power, controlling most aspects of
government.

In the June 1998 presidential election, the government prevented citizens
from effectively exercising the right to vote. The Interior Ministry declared
Eyadema the winner with 52% of the vote in the 1998 election; however,
serious irregularities in the government's conduct of the election strongly
favored the incumbent and appear to have affected the outcome materially.
Although the government did not obstruct the functioning of political
opponents openly, the President used the strength of the military and his
government allies to intimidate and harass citizens and opposition groups.
The government and the state remained highly centralized: President Eyadema's
national government appointed the officials and controlled the budgets of all
subnational government entities, including prefectures and municipalities,
and influenced the selection of traditional chiefs.

The second multi-party legislative elections of Eyadema's 33-year rule were
held on March 21, 1999. However, the opposition boycotted the election, in
which the ruling party won 79 of the 81 seats in the National Assembly. Those
two seats went to candidates from little-known independent parties.
Procedural problems and significant fraud, particularly misrepresentation of
voter turnout marred the legislative elections.

After the legislative election, the government announced that it would
continue to pursue dialog with the opposition. In June 1999, the RPT and
opposition parties met in Paris, in the presence of facilitators representing
France, Germany, the European Union, and La Francophonie (an international
organization of French-speaking countries), to agree on security measures for
formal negotiations in Lome. In July 1999, the government and the opposition
began discussions, and on July 29, 1999, all sides signed an accord called
the "Lome Framework Agreement," which included a pledge by President Eyadema
that he would respect the constitution and not seek another term as president
after his current one expired in 2003. The accord also called for the
negotiation of a legal status for opposition leaders, as well as for former
heads of state (such as their immunity from prosecution for acts in office).
In addition, the accord addressed the rights and duties of political parties
and the media, the safe return of refugees, and the security of all citizens.
The accord also contained a provision for compensating victims of political
violence. The President also agreed to dissolve the National Assembly in
March and hold new legislative elections, which would be supervised by an
independent national election commission (CENI) and which would use the
single-ballot method to protect against some of the abuses of past elections.
However, the March 2000 date passed without presidential action, and new
legislative elections were ultimately rescheduled for October 2001. Because
of funding problems and disagreements between the government and opposition,
the elections were again delayed, this time until March 2002.

In May 2002 the government scrapped CENI, blaming the opposition for its
inability to function. In its stead, the government appointed seven
magistrates to oversee preparations for legislative elections. Not
surprisingly, the opposition announced it would boycott them. Held in
October, as a result of the opposition's boycott the government party won
more than two-thirds of the seats in the National Assembly. In December 2002,
Eyadema's government used this rubber-stamp parliament to amend Togo's
constitution, allowing President Eyadema to run for an "unlimited" number of
terms. A further amendment stated that candidates must reside in the country
for at least 12 months before an election, a provision that barred the
participation in the upcoming presidential election of popular Union des
Forces du Progres (UFC) candidate, Gilchrist Olympio, who had been in exile
since 1992. The presidential election was held June 1, 2003. President
Eyadema was re-elected with 57% of the votes, amid allegations of widespread
vote rigging.

On April 14, 2004, the Government of Togo signed an agreement with the
European Union that included 22 commitments the Government of Togo must honor
as a precondition for resumption of EU aid. Among the most important of these
commitments are a constructive national dialogue between the Government of
Togo and the traditional opposition parties, and free and democratic
legislative elections.

By November 2004, Togo had made modest progress on some commitments,
releasing 500 prisoners, removing prison sentences from most provisions of
the Press Code, and initiating a dialogue with the core opposition parties.
Consultations were ongoing with the European Union with regard to when and
how to resume development cooperation.

On February 4, 2005 President Gnassingbe Eyadema died. In an unconstitutional
move, the military leadership swore in as President Faure Gnassingbe, the
late President Eyadema's son. Immediate condemnation by African leaders
followed by sanctions of the Economic Community of West African States and
the African Union combined with pressure from the international community led
finally to a decision on February 25 for Faure Gnassingbe to step down.
Protest efforts by the public included a large demonstration in Lomé that was
permitted to proceed peacefully. Prior to stepping down, Gnassingbe was
selected as leader of the ruling party and named as a candidate in the
announced presidential elections to choose a successor to Eyadema. Abass
Bonfoh, National Assembly Vice President, was selected to serve as Speaker of
the National Assembly and therefore simultaneously became interim President.
Real power apparently was retained by Gnassingbe as he continued to use the
offices of the President while the interim President operated from the
National Assembly.

Deeply flawed elections were held in April 2005, marred by violence and
widespread accusations of vote tampering, and causing tens of thousands of
Togolese to flee to neighboring Benin and Ghana. Faure Gnassingbe was
pronounced the winner, and was pressed by the international
community--including regional heads of state--to form a government of
national unity, including key opposition figures. After Gnassingbe failed to
reach agreement with the opposition, he named as Prime Minister Edem Kodjo, a
founder of the ruling RPT and former OAU Secretary-General and Togolese Prime
Minister. Kodjo subsequently named a Cabinet that kept security-related
ministries in the hands of the RPT and did not include any representatives
from the genuine opposition.

In August 2006 President Gnassingbe and members of the opposition signed the
Global Political Agreement (GPA), bringing an end to the political crisis
trigged by Gnassingbe Eyadema's death in February 2005 and the flawed and
violent electoral process that followed. The GPA provided for a transitional
unity government whose primary purpose would be to prepare for benchmark
legislative elections. CAR opposition party leader and human rights lawyer
Yawovi Agboyibo was appointed Prime Minister of the transitional government
in September 2006. Leopold Gnininvi, president of the CDPA party, was
appointed minister of state for mines and energy. The third opposition party,
UFC, headed by Gilchrist Olympio, declined to join the government, but agreed
to participate in the national electoral commission and the National Dialogue
follow-up committee, chaired by Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS
Togo has a transitional unity government in preparation for legislative
elections. President Gnassingbe faces a significant challenge, treading
lightly with entrenched ruling party interests while trying to implement
democratic reforms and revive Togo's deteriorating economy. Togo's
long-suffering population has seen its living standards decline precipitously
since the 1980s.

The Togolese judiciary is modeled on the French system. For administrative
purposes, Togo is divided into 30 prefectures, each having an appointed
prefect.

Principal Government Officials
President--Faure Gnassingbe
Prime Minister--Yawovi Agboyibo
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation--Zarifou Ayeva
Minister of Justice--Tchessa Abi
Minister of Defense and Veteran Affairs--Kpatcha Gnassingbe
Minister of Security--Col. Pitalouna-Ani Laokpessi

Next Elections Scheduled
Presidential elections--Not scheduled.
Legislative elections--September 2007.
Local elections--Not applicable.

ECONOMY
Subsistence agriculture and commerce are the main economic activities in
Togo; the majority of the population depends on subsistence agriculture. Food
and cash crop production employs the majority of the labor force and
contributes about 42% to the gross domestic product (GDP). Coffee and cocoa
are traditionally the major cash crops for export, but cotton cultivation
increased rapidly in the 1990s, with 173,000 metric tons produced in 1999.
After a disastrous harvest in 2001 (113,000 metric tons), production
rebounded to 168,000 metric tons in 2002. Despite insufficient rainfall in
some areas, the Togolese Government has achieved its goal of self-sufficiency
in food crops--corn, cassava, yams, sorghum, millet, and groundnut. Small and
medium-sized farms produce most of the food crop; average farm size is one to
three hectares.

Commerce is the most important economic activity in Togo after agriculture,
and Lome is an important regional trading center. Its port operates 24 hours
a day, mainly transporting goods to the inland countries of Mali, Burkina
Faso, and Niger. Lome's "Grand Marche" is known for its entrepreneurial
market women, who have a stronghold over many areas of trade, particularly in
African cloth. In addition to textiles, Togo is an important center for
re-export of alcohol, cigarettes, perfume, and used automobiles to
neighboring countries. Recent years of political instability have, however,
eroded Togo's position as a trading center.

In the industrial sector, phosphates are Togo's most important commodity, and
the country has an estimated 60 million metric tons of phosphate reserves.
From a highpoint of 2.7 million tons in 1997, production dropped to
approximately 1.3 million tons in 2002. The fall in production is partly the
result of the depletion of easily accessible deposits and the lack of funds
for new investment. The formerly state-run company appears to have benefited
from private management, which took over in 2001. Togo also has substantial
limestone and marble deposits.

Encouraged by the commodity boom of the mid-1970s, which resulted in a
four-fold increase in phosphate prices and sharply increased government
revenues, Togo embarked on an overly ambitious program of large investments
in infrastructure while pursuing industrialization and development of state
enterprises in manufacturing, textiles, and beverages. However, following
declines in world prices for commodities, its economy became burdened with
fiscal imbalances, heavy borrowing, and unprofitable state enterprises.

Togo turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for assistance in 1979,
while simultaneously implementing a stringent adjustment effort with the help
of a series of IMF standby programs, World Bank loans, and Paris Club debt
rescheduling. Under these programs, the Togolese Government introduced a
series of austerity measures and major restructuring goals for the state
enterprise and rural development sectors. These reforms were aimed at
eliminating most state monopolies, simplifying taxes and customs duties,
curtailing public employment, and privatizing major state enterprises. Togo
made good progress under the international financial institutions' programs
in the late 1980s, but movement on reforms ended with the onset of political
instability in 1990. With a new, elected government in place, Togo negotiated
new 3-year programs with the World Bank and IMF in 1994.

Togo returned to the Paris Club in 1995 and received Naples terms, the club's
most concessionary rates. With the economic downturn associated with Togo's
political problems, scheduled external debt service obligations for 1994 were
greater than 100% of projected government revenues (excluding bilateral and
multilateral assistance). In 2004, the IMF Staff Monitored Program designed
to restore macroeconomic stability and financial discipline was in a
suspended status. New IMF, World Bank and Africa Development Bank (ADB)
lending must await the willingness of Togo's traditional donors--the European
Union, principally, but the U.S. also--to resume aid flows. Togo's
problematic legislative and presidential elections and the government's
unwillingness to transition from an Eyadema-led autocracy to democracy
deterred these donors from providing Togo with more aid. As of the fall 2002,
Togo was $15 million in arrears to the World Bank and owed $3 million to the
ADB.

Togo is one of 16 members of the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS). The ECOWAS development fund is based in Lome. Togo also is a member
of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), which groups seven
West African countries using the CFA franc. The West African Development Bank
(BOAD), which is associated with UEMOA, is based in Lome. Togo long served as
a regional banking center, but that position has been eroded by the political
instability and economic downturn of the early 1990s. Historically, France
has been Togo's principal trading partner, although other European Union
countries are important to Togo's economy. Total U.S. trade with Togo amounts
to about $16 million annually.

FOREIGN RELATIONS
Although Togo's foreign policy is nonaligned, it has strong historical and
cultural ties with western Europe, especially France and Germany. Togo
recognizes the People's Republic of China, North Korea, and Cuba. It
re-established relations with Israel in 1987.

Togo pursues an active foreign policy and participates in many international
organizations. It is particularly active in West African regional affairs and
in the African Union. Relations between Togo and neighboring states are
generally good.

U.S.-TOGOLESE RELATIONS
Togo is a pro-Western, market-oriented country, and the United States and
Togo have had generally good relations since its independence, although the
United States has never been one of Togo's major trade partners. The largest
share of U.S. exports to Togo generally has been used clothing and scrap
textiles. Other important U.S. exports include rice, wheat, shoes, and
tobacco products, and U.S. personal computers and other office electronics
are becoming more widely used.

The Government of Togo, with the support of the Overseas Private Investment
Corporation (OPIC) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID),
established an export processing zone (EPZ) in Togo. The zone has attracted
private investors interested in manufacturing, assembly, and food processing,
primarily for the export market. USAID closed its local office in 1994 and
runs local development programs from its office in Abidjan through
nongovernmental organizations in Togo.

Peace Corps began its work in Togo in 1962, and since that time has hosted
more than 2,200 Peace Corps Volunteers. Currently there are 100 Volunteers
serving in Togo. Volunteers have a successful history of collaboration and
involvement with the Togolese people at all levels. Their efforts build upon
counterpart relationships and emphasize low-cost solutions that make maximum
use of local resources. Partnering with local and international organizations
is an important component of Volunteer project activities. Volunteers work to
promote self-sufficiency in the areas of business development, education,
environment, and health. All Volunteers, regardless of sector, are trained in
how to promote HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention.

Principal U.S. Officials
Ambassador--David B. Dunn
Deputy Chief of Mission--J.A. Diffily
Management Officer--vacant
Public Affairs Officer--Mary Daschbach
Consular Officer--Amanda Jacobsen
Pol/Econ/Commercial Officer--Melanie Zimmerman
Peace Corps Director--George Monagan

The U.S. Embassy is located on Boulevard Eyadema, Lomé (tel: 228-261-5470/1/2
/3). The mailing address is B.P. 852, Lomé, Togo (international mail) and
AmEmbassy Lome, 2300 Lome Place, Washington, DC 20521-2300 (by diplomatic
pouch).

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Citizen/Topics/Travel/International.shtml.

The Department of State encourages all U.S citizenstraveling or residing
abroad to register via the State Department's travel registration website or
at the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate abroad. Registration will make your
presence and whereabouts known in case it is necessary to contact you in an
emergency and will enable you to receive up-to-date information on security
conditions.

Emergency information concerning Americans traveling abroad may be obtained
by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S. and Canada or the regular
toll line 1-202-501-4444 for callers outside the U.S. and Canada.

The National Passport Information Center (NPIC) is the U.S. Department of
State's single, centralized public contact center for U.S. passport
information. Telephone: 1-877-4USA-PPT (1-877-487-2778). Customer service
representatives and operators for TDD/TTY are available Monday-Friday, 7:00
a.m. to 12:00 midnight, Eastern Time, excluding federal holidays.

Travelers can check the latest health information with the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. A hotline at 877-FYI-TRIP
(877-394-8747) and a web site at http://www.cdc.gov/travel/index.htm give the
most recent health advisories, immunization recommendations or requirements,
and advice on food and drinking water safety for regions and countries. A
booklet entitled "Health Information for International Travel" (HHS
publication number CDC-95-8280) is available from the U.S. Government
Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402, tel. (202) 512-1800.

Further Electronic Information
Department of State Web Site. Available on the Internet at http://
www.state.gov, the Department of State web site provides timely, global
access to official U.S. foreign policy information, including Background
Notes and daily press briefings along with the directory of key officers of
Foreign Service posts and more. The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC)
provides security information and regional news that impact U.S. companies
working abroad through its website http://www.osac.gov

Export.gov provides a portal to all export-related assistance and market
information offered by the federal government and provides trade leads, free
export counseling, help with the export process, and more.
STAT-USA/Internet, a service of the U.S. Department of Commerce, provides
authoritative economic, business, and international trade information from
the Federal government. The site includes current and historical
trade-related releases, international market research, trade opportunities,
and country analysis and provides access to the National Trade Data Bank. ***********************************************************
See http://www.state.gov/r/pa/bgn/ for all Background notes
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To change your subscription, go to http://www.state.gov/misc/echannels/66822.htm Togo Country Facts

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