Eyadema, (Etienne) Gnassingbé (1935-2005)

Togolese army officer and politician, president 1967-2005. In 1967, after serving in the French army, he overthrew President Grunitzky to become Togo's unelected president. A 1972 national referendum confirmed his presidency and he established a personality cult and dictatorial, one-party state until 1993. He won a hollow victory in supposedly democratic elections in 1993 because all the main opposition parties refused to take part and their supporters boycotted the polls. On his death in 2005, his son Faure Gnassingbé succeeded him as president.

After Grunitzky was deposed, Eyadema set up the National Reconciliation Committee. For a time he shared the presidency with Col Kleber Dadjo, but he soon assumed full power and became Togo's first general. In 1969 he became founder-president of the Movement of the Togolese National Rally. Having secured the presidency, he established a one-party state, but had to concede some of his power in the face of public dissent.

Eyadema was born at Piya, in northern Togo. He served in the French army in Algeria and Indochina, Niger, and Dahomey (now Benin), 1953-61. When Togo became independent in 1960, he and other veterans of the French army were not allowed to join the Togo army. This led to a 1963 coup against President Sylvanus Olympio, who was assassinated. After this, he was commissioned and he proceeded through the ranks of lieutenant, captain, and commander, before becoming army chief of staff and then lieutenant colonel in 1965.