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⁹ Eyadéma had been undoubtedly influenced by Mobutu Sese Seko's successful use of animateurs to create a charismatic cult in Zaïre. See Toulabor, Comi M., Le Togo sous Eyadéma (Paris, 1986), pp. 193–229,Google Scholar and Schatzberg, Michael G., The Dialectics of Oppression in Zaïre (Bloomington, 1991), pp. 78–9.Google Scholar

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¹³ The production of phosphates increased from 119,501 to 3,355,540 tons between 1961 and 1989 according to Institut national de la recherche scientifique, Economie et société togolaises: chiffres, tendances et perspectives. Cahier 1991 (Lomé, 1991), p. 99. Unfortunately, Togolese phosphate rock contains large quantities of cadmium, which has come under increasing restrictions in Europe. Germany has been the most dramatic case: it imported 241,000 tons (5,062 million C.F.A. francs) in 1985, but only 114,150 tons in 1986 and 15,750 tons in 1987, and none after 1988. Chambre de commerce d'agriculture et d'industrie du Togo,Google ScholarBulletin mensuel (Lomé, 03 1990), p. 30.Google Scholar

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³⁵ Such fears were not unfounded. In April 1990, autochthonous Ewe farmers in western Togo killed an unknown number of Kabiyé sharecroppers who, in accordance with a 1974 decree that redistributed land to those who worked it, had gained title to holdings in the prosperous cocoa region around Palimé that they had farmed in a métayage relationship.Google Scholar

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⁴³ Both Codjia, , president of Unacobe, and Grace Lawani, president of the Association des femmes entrepreneurs et commerçants du Bénin (Afaceb), emphasised in interviews the necessity for a free trade zone (zone franche) in Benin, although this was rejected by Elisabeth Mêgnibêto of the Association des commercants et commerçantes des marchés du Bénin (Accomab)Google Scholar. Since 1991, however, the latter has been increasingly marginalised among market women in Cotonou. For the demands of these organisations, see Conférence nationale des forces vives, Cotonou, 19–24 février 1990, Correspondences recues par le comité, Vol. v, Correspondances des syndicats, ordres et groupements professionnels (Cotonou, 1990).

⁴⁴ Apedo-Amah, Ayay Togpate, ‘Les Femmes togolaises trahies par l'UNFT’, in La Tribune des démocrates, 5, 15 March 1991, p. 6.Google Scholar

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⁵² According to students interviewed in 1991, a controversy existed about the merits of creating a federation of associations. Before independence they had been organised into the local branches of the monolithic Fédération des étudiants d'Afrique noire en France (F.E.A.N.F.). This evolved into the Union générale des étudiants et éléves du Dahomey (Ugeed), which continued to meet clandestinely throughout much of Kérékou's tenure of power. For an excellent study of Dahomean student associations,Google Scholar see Ahovi, Antoinette, ‘Le Mouvement syndical estudiantin et scolaire au Dahomey, 1956–1973’, Mémoire de maítrise, Université nationale du Bénin, 1988.Google Scholar

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⁵⁸ To discourage frivolous candidates in the first round of voting (to establish the two leading contenders in the second round), the H.C.R. required a deposit of 5 million C.F.A. francs, to be forfeited if the person concerned did not win at least 10 per cent of the vote. ‘Loi No. 90–036 du 31 décembre 1990 définissant les règles particulières pour l'élection du Président de Ia République, Article 11’, in Jurislnfo (Cotonou), 33, 17 01 1991, p. 4.Google Scholar

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⁶¹ In particular, the coalition between the party of Hubert Maga from the north and that of the southern politician Adrien Houngbedji. Report in 24 Heures (Cotonou), 26, 25 02 1991, p. 4.Google Scholar

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⁶³ Although the Prime Minister had taken the portfolio of defence, the President still controlled the army, and after the first attempted coup on 1 October 1991, when troops occupied the radio/TV station, Eyadéma broadcast an appeal for the F.A.T. to respect the wishes of the Conférence nationale and return to their barracks. But a week later they stormed Koffigoh's residence and unsuccessfully tried to take him prisoner.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ On 28 November 1991, soldiers occupied strategic points in Lomé, and although Koffigoh appealed to Paris for military protection, the French did not intervene and the Prime Minister's residence was bombarded. Television and radio broadcasts in Lomé at the time portrayed Eyadéma as seeking to control rebellious troops, despite the publication of an interview in Paris Match, 21 November 1991, in which the President said that all the decisions of the Conférence nationale were illegal. In addition, Eyadéma's departure for his home in the north at Piya just before R.P.T. loyalists challenged the H.C.R.'s decrees, and his rapid return to Lomé at the onset of violence, suggest a master tactician. The troops never relinquished their demands for an unconditional re-instatement of his power.Google Scholar

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