Togo is a small country of 36,500 square kilometres in West Africa with a population of about 6 million inhabitants. It is bordered to the north by Burkina Faso, to the west by Ghana, to the east by Benin and in the south by the Atlantic Ocean. Independent from April 27, 1960, after German, English then French colonisation, its political life was marked by the assassination, on January 13, 1963, of the first elected president, the "Father of Independence", Sylvanus Olympio, by a group of soldiers led by Gnassingbé Eyadéma.

Following the coup d'état, the country was entrusted to Nicolas Grunitzky, then to Klébert Dadjo, before finally falling once more into the hands of Gnassingbé Eyadéma in 1967. He ruled till 2005 when he died. He was replaced by his son, Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, following disputed elections which generated political violence which left at least 500 people dead, several wounded, according to an investigation of the United Nations Organisation (UNO).Togo's real problem was that of peaceful transfer of political power.

The country which had for a long time been deprived of international aid since 1993 on account of its "democratic deficit", made 22 commitments in 2004 before the European Union (EU) to make up for the said deficit. It has been trying to make some democratic openings considered "insufficient" by the opposition political parties which denounce obstacles to the exercise of their activities, the difficult access of parties to the state-owned media, the intrusion of the military in the political life as well as the lack of transparency in all elections organised in the country. On February 28, 2010, the country would hold a presidential election. The electoral law, has within some months been modified three times - a sittuation which had created some tension before the polls.

Several talks held in Ouagadougou with Blaise Compaoré, the President of Burkina Faso as facilitator helped to ease these tensions, as the presidential election approached. However, the passage of the legislative instrument establishing the HAAC, several nominations for the post of préfet, and the refusal of the government to change the mode of the voting (only one round while there are calls for a two-round polls) was giving rise to anxiety among the people. As a result, many Togolese were leaving their country to become refugees in neighbouring countries for fear of post-election violence.

Media Overview

After making a headway in 2004 following the decriminalisation of media offences which enabled Togo to advance 29 places in the world ranking on press freedom, the country keeps sliding downwards year after year. In 2006, it placed 66th and was 53rd in 2008. In a rather ordinary way, with improper actions towards the media, Togo dropped to the 62nd position in 2009.

Against this backdrop, in 2009 the media lanscape in Togo was marked by the state assistance to the private media of 350 million CFA Francs, the registragion of several new information outlets, and other diverse fortunes, some crackdown and the amendment, on October 30, of the legislative instrument establishing the High Authority for Broadcasting and Communication (HAAC), which set off a relentless struggle between media organisations and the media regulatory body. Though newspapers are not financially viable in Togo, given the low circulation and poor sales on the market, they were constantly being established in the name of press freedom.

In 2009 therefore, the following newspapers were recorded:

• Le Correcteur, a weekly newspaper become a bi-weekly only a few months ago.
• L'Enquêteur: a general information bimonthly newspaper.
• Togoréveil, bi-monthly general information newspaper.
• Le Lutteur, a general information weekly newspaper.
• Le Pont: bi-monthly general information newspaper.
• Le Consommateur averti, a bimonthly magazine specialising in consumer issues.
• Savoir News, a private general information news agency.

It must be recalled that Togo has more than 90 radio stations of which nearly a dozen are faith-based, 9 television channel, one of which is public, and more than 250 newspapers about thirty of which appear more or less regularly.