TOGOLAND: Free by 1960

In Guinea black Africans voted no and got their independence. In Togoland they did not have to vote, but they won a far brighter victory.

Togoland is a hot and humid little country lying between Ghana (which won its independence from Britain) and Nigeria (which is about to). The blacks, about 1,100,000 strong, far outnumber Togoland’s 2,000-odd Europeans. A former German protectorate, Togoland has, since 1922, been run by the French, first under a League of Nations mandate and then under a U.N. trusteeship. Its hottest politician is Premier Sylvanus Olympic, whose family once were slaves in Brazil.

Last May, after his party was swept into power, Olympio proclaimed: “We are masters of our own house.” Last month he flew up to Paris to make sure. Though the De Gaulle government has always been sympathetic to his demands, he was sternly told: “If it is independence you have come for, you can have it now and face immediate withdrawal of French administrative and financial aid.” Olympio protested that this was no way to treat a U.N. trusteeship. Agreeing that Olympio had a point, the French promised to help train the Togolese to take full control of currency, defense and diplomacy by 1960—if Olympio would keep the terms quiet until France and all its overseas territories had voted on the new constitution. Olympio agreed. Only after the referendum was over did he broadcast the happy news to his people: by 1960 they would be free.