This chapter examines Togo’s security sector and finds a highly militarised country with one of the most dysfunctional security sectors in West Africa. With constraints on the judiciary and parliament and a constitution that is not applied, there is almost no civilian control of security in Togo, and civil society is not well developed. The security forces represent the greatest danger to Togo’s political life. The hegemony of the military needs to be discarded, but this seems a remote prospect.
Under the late General Eyadema, Togo’s forces of law and order instilled insecurity throughout the country. Eyadema built an elaborate security system based on ethnic and political manipulation of the military to sustain his regime, and he repressed and excluded civil society.
After Eyadema’s death in 2005, the succession crisis aggravated insecurity in the country and led to almost 1,000 deaths, with 40,000 people seeking refuge in neighbouring countries. More recently, the succession of the late president’s son in elections of doubtful probity marks the apparent emergence of a military dynasty and makes reform of Togo’s security sector unlikely.
The challenges of security sector governance in Togo arise from the nature of the existing regime. Togo is an excessively militarised, security-oriented state, with a ratio of one soldier for every 300 inhabitants. Men in uniform are seen as above the law and the justice system.
- In transforming the state into a personal asset, General Eyadema made the armed forces his private property, serving his exclusive interests.
- This was made easier by the fact that the forces are made up almost exclusively of men from his ethnic group, the Kabye. No African military is as ethnically biased as the Togolese armed forces.
- The supervisory structure of the Togolese armed forces is also almost entirely in the hands of the Kabye. Out of 300 officers, 200 are Kabye, and 50 are from the President’s home village (Pya). Further, a soldier may disobey his superior at will if they are not from the same ethnic group.
- A number of militia and private security companies also support the regime alongside the Togolese Armed Forces.
- Horizontally, the regime uses informants to provide a pervasive and invisible system of surveillance to enhance authoritarian control.
- NGOs and community groups are only allowed to engage in ‘economic development’, not human rights work.
Many institutions for the democratic control and management of the security sector have been created, but they do not function in any meaningful way. In order to allow these institutions to function, the dominance of the military must be reduced. Four possible scenarios could bring about an end to military rule in Togo:
- A coup initiated by discontented high-ranking officers or NCOs who seek a republican and modern armed forces.
- An external military intervention from neighbouring states (although the current geopolitical situation in the sub-region makes this unlikely).
- A move by Paris to push the authorities of Lomé onto the path of democracy.
- A strong popular movement with the support of the Togolese diaspora, to compel the armed forces to return to their barracks. This scenario might succeed if it received support from part of the military, and if Paris maintained neutrality. Again, however, this scenario seems unlikely.
