Yearbook 2011
Togo. According to Countryaah official site, a half-brother to the president was sentenced in September to 20 years in prison for planning a coup in 2009. Kpatcha Gnassingbé was arrested while trying to seek protection at the US embassy in Lomé, the day after soldiers stormed his home under fire. Since then he had been detained, ie. for over two years. The rivalry between the two half-brothers was said to have been ongoing since childhood. Another half-brother was acquitted. Visit ABBREVIATIONFINDER for the acronym of TGO that stands for the country of Togo.
A new law on the limited right to conduct public demonstrations at the beginning of the year led to protests and clashes between the riot police and opposition supporters. The law provides that the application for a permit for demonstrations must be submitted to the government at least five days in advance. Organizers of illegal demonstrations can be punished with imprisonment and fines.
After the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank written off 80% of Togo’s foreign debt at the end of 2010, France decided in May to repay the entire Togolese bilateral debt of just over EUR 100 million.
In October, Togo was elected to the UN Security Council on a two-year mandate 2012-13.
ANTHROPOLOGY
The ethnic composition of the Togo population is rich and varied. Kwa groups are concentrated in the southern region of the country, while Mossi and Gurma groups have arrived from the north (properly from Burkina Faso). The largest ethnic group in the country is that of the Western Ewe who migrated from present-day Nigeria starting from the 16th century. followed later by groups Ga-Adangme and Kpelle. Other minor groups arrived in the territory of the present Togo from Ghana and the Ivory Coast. The culture ewe, which came to form through different contributions, has determined the rise of a particular complex, the essential features of which are the agricultural economy (corn, cassava, plantain), partly integrated with fishing, and the patrilineal descent. The bronze work is important. The centrality of the Ewe in the social fabric of the Togo is not only numerical, but is determined by the fact that they are very influential in politics, administration and commerce. AE of the Ewe also meet groups of Yoruba. In the northern and central Togo there are numerous small groups that have linguistic affinities, but a very low cultural homogeneity.