Étienne (Gnassingbé) Eyadéma was born on 26 December, 1937 in Pya in northern Togo; his parents were farmers. Eyadéma started his career in the French colonial Army in 1953 until 1961. Upon Togo’s independence in 1960 under president Sylvanus Olympio it was forbidden that former French soldiers server in the new Togolese army. Not surprisingly, this led to widespread anger and dissent among the military and ultimately to a coup d’etat on 13 January 1963, in which Olympio was killed; it is rumoured that Eyadéma personally killed Olympio.

After the coup, Nicolas Grunitzky took the office of the president, making Eyadéma chief of staff. On 13 January, 1967 Grunitzky was also removed from power by way of bloodless coup, paving the way for Eyadéma to become the President and Minister of Defense.

In Power

Eyadéma founded the Rally of the Togolese People, the political party that would rule the country under a one party system for the next 27 years until 1993, when the first multi-party elections were allowed. He was re-elected to the office of President in 1972, 1979, 1986, 1993, 1998 and 2003. His re-elections under the multi-party system were heavily criticized by his opponents as unfair, with reports of opposition rallies being disrupted by Eyadéma supporters amoung other oppressive practices. Many irregularities had also been noted in the voting process, including more than a million unaccounted new voters at one election and some voters’ names appearing more than once in the rolls. The constitution of the country had been altered several times to allow him to run for re-election, despite constitutional term limits.

Foreign and Domestic Relations

Numerous human rights groups criticized Eyadéma’s regime for systematic human rights violations, and relations with the EU became strained in the 1990’s after foreign aid to Togo was suspended in 1993. Eyadéma survived numerous military rebellions and assassination attempts during his rule, his treatment of opposition led to allegations of brutal reprisals and hundreds of politically motivated disappearances and murders. It is also charged that Eyadéma fed opponents to crocodiles; and that torture and terror of the population were commonplace. However despite the human rights violations, Eyadéma was successful in maintaining Togo as a peaceful and stable country during his entire rule.

Eyadéma always maintained good relations with France, never forgetting his loyalty to the once colonial possessor of Togo. French food and products were quite prevalent under his rule.

Late in his career he attempted to engage in several peace processes in the region, but with notably few results. He became chairman of the Organisation of African Unity between 2001 and 2001 to attempt to broker a peace in the Côte d’Ivoire.

Economics

Togo’s economy was notably in much better shape than those of her neighbours through the 1960’s and 1970’s, and Eyadéma’s officials named Togo the "Switzerland of Africa", a claim that would be used repeatedly in re-election campaigns. Yet after EU subsidies were halted in 1993, the economy suffered notably and began a gradual downward spiral of stagnation and erosion, causing infrastructure and cities to become neglected and dirty. This led to the bloated public sector budgets to rely increasingly on ballooning debt to finance programmes. Average per capita income under his 38 year rule fell about 12%. 

Personal

Eyadéma was a rigid disciplinarian, and prone to be somewhat hot tempered. He was an extremely hard working leader, known for keeping very long hours. His favourite hobby was game hunting. He was the longest serving ruler in Africa, remaining in power over the span of five decades. It is reported that he had more than one hundred children with several women.

Death

With his health failing, Eyadéma died of a heart attack en route to France on 05 February 2005 after being brought out of the country for emergency medical treatment. Upon his death his son Faure Gnassingbé took power but was forced out of power in less than three weeks. Faure Hnassingbé was later elected president in an election and currently serves as president. 

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