nov 21, 1966 - Lomé uprising against Grunitzky regime

Description:

Popular uprising in Lomé on
November 21, 1966, aimed at unseating the increasingly unpopular
and unstable regime of Nicolas Grunitzky and bringing back to power the lieutenants of former President Sylvanus Olympio and his Parti de l'Unité Togolaise, successor to the Comité de l'Unité Togolaise. The uprising commenced early in the morning with the seizure of the radio station and other public buildings in the city and the appeal over the airwaves-by Oswald Ajavonfor massive demonstrations and a march to the presidential house. The uprising took place against the background of the resignation of the last PUT members (see MEATCHI-MAMA CRISIS) from Grunitzky's cabinet. Estimates of the crowds that obeyed the appeal for an uprising are unreliable, ranging from 5,000 to 50,000, but the crowds were undoubtedly large and the appeal popular. Various PUT leaders addressed the masses,
including Noe Kutuklui, self-styled heir-apparent to the Olympio throne. The reaction of the armed forces was muted and ambiguous until early in the afternoon, when they started clearing the crowds. The basic consideration that brought in the military on the side of Grunitzky was the fact that to allow the coup to succeed would have strengthened the PUT and ushered in a PUT-dominated government, several members of which were known to be adamant in their demands that Olympio's assassins (i.e., Eyadema and other ranking officers of the army) be brought to trial. Following the army's belated entry on Grunitzky's side, the latter drastically reshuffled the cabinet, purged and downgraded Vice President Antoine Méatchi, and tried to provide a more assertive leadership. These efforts were to no avail, since the officer corps had already decided that the Grunitzky regime was a liability and would be overthrown on the next anniversary of Olympio's demise. See also GRUNITZKY, NICOLAS; COUP OF 1967.

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