Togo signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997,
but has not yet ratified. Togo voted in favor of the key 1996, 1997 and 1998 UN
General Assembly resolutions on landmines and endorsed the Brussels Declaration.
Togo is also a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its original,
but not amended, Protocol II on landmines. There is currently national
legislation on arms ownership and use which prohibits individuals from bearing
arms without official authorization and given this law, legislation specific to
antipersonnel mines is thought to be
unnecessary.[1]
Togo has not produced or exported antipersonnel mines. It has no
weapons-production capacity.[2]
There were rumours of mine importation at the time of the alleged attempted coup
and mercenary invasion in 1977, but no substantive proof has been found. It is
not known if Togo possesses a stockpile of AP mines. Togo is not
mine-affected.[3]
French Togoland became independent in 1960 as the current Togo. It remains a
member of the French-backed African Franc Zone. Tensions with Ghana have
existed, especially since the accession of Jerry Rawlings as Ghanaian head of
state in 1981. Rawlings relies heavily on the support of predominantly
Ewé-speakers in the east and south-east. These have close links with
Togo’s southern and coastal Ewé-speaking populations, who in turn
have a mutually antagonistic relationship with Togo’s veteran northern
military head of state, General Gnassingbé Eyadéma, in power since
1967.[4]
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