Edem Kodjo

Édouard Kodjovi "Edem" Kodjo (May 23, 1938 – April 11, 2020), was a Togolese politician and diplomat. He was Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity from 1978 to 1983; later, in Togo, he was a prominent opposition leader after the introduction of multi-party politics. He served as Prime Minister from 1994 to 1996 and again from 2005 to 2006. Kodjo was President of the Patriotic Pan-African Convergence (CPP).[1] Kodjo died on April 11, 2020, in Paris.[2]

Edem Kodjo
4th Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity
In office July 21, 1978 – June 12, 1983
Preceded by	William Eteki
Succeeded by	Peter Onu
3rd Prime Minister of Togo
In office April 23, 1994 – August 20, 1996
President	Gnassingbé Eyadéma
Preceded by	Joseph Kokou Koffigoh
Succeeded by	Kwassi Klutse
In office June 9, 2005 – September 20, 2006
President	Faure Gnassingbé
Preceded by	Koffi Sama
Succeeded by	Yawovi Agboyibo
Personal details
Born	May 23, 1938 Sokodé, Tchaoudjo, French Togoland
Died	April 11, 2020 (aged 81) Paris, France
Nationality	Togolese
Political party	UDT
Profession	Administrator, teacher, writer, publisher

Early life

Kodjo was born in Sokodé, Tchaoudjo Prefecture, French Togoland on May 23, 1938.[3][4] He had his secondary school education at West Africa Secondary School in Ghana.[3][4]

Career

Early career

After completing his studies in France, he was an administrator at the Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française[4] from November 1964 to June 1967. He then returned to Togo and was appointed by President Gnassingbé Eyadéma as Secretary-General of the Ministry of Finance in July 1967.[5] Kodjo participated in the creation of the Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) ruling party in late 1969 and became the new party's Secretary-General.[4][5] He also wrote the "Green Book", which served as the ideological basis for the establishment of the RPT's single-party rule.[6] He was removed from his position as RPT Secretary-General in 1971.[4]

Kodjo served in Eyadéma's government as Minister of Finance from 1973 to 1977,[7] and as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1976 to 1978.[4] He was elected as the Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) at its summit in Khartoum on July 18–22, 1978.[8] One of the key issues facing the OAU during Kodjo's five-year tenure was the status of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), which claimed independence for the former colony of Spanish Sahara, at that time partly occupied by Morocco. Kodjo controversially allowed the SADR to be seated as a member of the OAU on February 28, 1982, over the objections of Morocco and various other African countries that supported the Moroccan position. According to Kodjo, that decision was based simply on the fact that a majority of OAU member states had recognized the SADR, but it led to a serious crisis within the OAU, with a number of member states boycotting OAU meetings.[9] Senegalese President Abdou Diouf accused Kodjo of "mischief-making".[10]

After leaving his post as OAU Secretary-General in 1983,[11] Kodjo lived in France, where he taught at the Sorbonne, wrote for Jeune Afrique, and founded a magazine, Afrique 2000.[12] In 1985 he published Africa Tomorrow in France, which was later translated into English by E. B. Khan and published in the United States in 1987.[13]

1990s

In 1991, a few months before the National Conference, Kodjo returned to Togo and founded a new opposition political party, the Togolese Union for Democracy (UTD).[12] On July 20, 1993,[14] he was designated by the Collective of Democratic Opposition (COD II) as its sole candidate for the presidential election of August 25, 1993,[4][14][15] although Gilchrist Olympio of the Union of the Forces of Change (UFC) did not accept this decision.[14] Along with fellow opposition leaders Yawovi Agboyibo and Djobo Boukari, Kodjo announced on August 22 that he was withdrawing his candidacy and boycotting the election due to the number of registered voters being considered too high—a possible sign of preparations to rig the election.[16]

Along with other opposition leaders, Kodjo pressured Eyadéma to hold a free and fair parliamentary election in 1994. In this election, the Action Committee for Renewal (CAR) and the UTD together won an initial majority in the National Assembly,[17][18] the CAR with 36 seats and the UTD with seven;[18] Kodjo himself won a seat from Lomé.[19] The CAR and UTD initially agreed to nominate CAR President Yawovi Agboyibo as Prime Minister. However, after the election in three constituencies was cancelled, the two parties lost their narrow majority, and Eyadéma invited Kodjo to form a government,[17] announcing his appointment as Prime Minister on April 22, 1994;[14][18] he took office on April 25.[14] The CAR regarded Kodjo's appointment as a violation of the parties' agreement and refused to participate in his government.[17] His acceptance of the position of Prime Minister, in addition to his earlier role in the establishment of the RPT regime, discredited him in the eyes of many opposition supporters.[6] His government was announced on May 25, 1994; it included the RPT, the UTD, and some smaller parties not represented in the National Assembly. Although headed by Kodjo, the composition of the government was strongly dominated by the RPT.[20]

Kodjo served as Prime Minister of Togo until August 20, 1996. He resigned as Prime Minister after the RPT won the elections that were held over again in the constituencies where the results had been annulled, giving the RPT and its allies a parliamentary majority; a new government under Kwassi Klutse of the RPT was formed.[17]

On the night of August 13, 1997, tear gas canisters were thrown at Kodjo's house while he was exiting it with guests. The UTD alleged that the canisters were thrown from a police vehicle.[21] Kodjo announced on May 4, 1998 that he would not be a candidate in the June 1998 presidential election, stressing the need for opposition unity.[22] He backed the leading opposition candidate, UFC President Gilchrist Olympio.[23]

2000–2020

Kodjo subsequently became the leader of a new party, the Patriotic Pan-African Convergence (CPP), which was created in August 1999[24] through the merger of four parties,[24][25] including the UTD.[25] Kodjo ran as the CPP's candidate in the June 2003 presidential election.[25][26] Kodjo criticized Eyadéma for not honoring his pledge to step down in the 2003 election and again called for the opposition to put forward a single candidate.[27] During the campaign, the CPP called for a debate on television between Kodjo and Eyadéma after the RPT engaged in what the CPP considered personal attacks on Kodjo.[26] In the election, Kodjo received 0.96% of the vote according to official results[28][29] and took fifth place;[28] he denounced the results as fraudulent.[30]

Following the disputed April 2005 presidential election, which occurred shortly after Eyadema's death, Eyadema's son and successor Faure Gnassingbé named Kodjo, a representative of the moderate opposition, as Prime Minister again on June 8, 2005, choosing him instead of a candidate from the radical opposition.[29][31] He took office on June 9, succeeding Koffi Sama.[32]

In an announcement on September 16, 2006, Gnassingbé accepted Kodjo's resignation and named Yawovi Agboyibo as Prime Minister.[33] On September 25, Gnassingbé appointed Kodjo by decree as Minister of State to the Presidency.[34]

In the October 2007 parliamentary election, Kodjo ran for a seat in the National Assembly as a candidate of the CPP in Avé Prefecture, where he was the first name on the party's candidate list.[3][11] The CPP did not win any seats in the election.[35]

At a CPP congress in late April 2009, Kodjo announced that he was retiring from day-to-day politics in order to make way for younger leadership. He also said that he would not be a candidate in the 2010 presidential election.[36] Acting as the Special Envoy of La Francophonie, he arrived in Madagascar to help mediate in that country's political crisis on May 8, 2009.[37] In an interview with Jeune Afrique, published in May 2009, he said that he had served his country in all possible capacities, except that of President: "I have made my contribution to the construction of my country". According to Kodjo, he had lost interest in "internal politics" and preferred to devote himself to Pan-Africanism by working to facilitate a cooperative approach to finding solutions to African problems.[38]

In 2016 he acted as the African Union's mediator during the dispute between the government and the opposition in the Democratic Republic of the Congo regarding the timing of the next election.[39]

Death

Kodjo died of an unspecified long illness on April 11, 2020, in Paris, France. The Togolese Foreign Minister Robert Dussey paid tribute to him, calling him "a brilliant academic".[40]

References

1. "Une démocratie en bonne santé" Archived June 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Republicoftogo.com, January 12, 2007 (in French).
2. "Au revoir Edouard". République Togolaise (in French). May 11, 2020. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
3. List of candidates in Avé Prefecture in the 2007 election Archived September 11, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, CENI website (in French).
4. "Présidentielles 2003 : Profil des candidats", iciLome.com, May 16, 2003 (in French).
5. "EDEM KODJO À VISAGE DÉCOUVERT" Archived February 17, 2005, at the Wayback Machine, diastode.org (in French).
6. Morten Hagen and Michelle Spearing, "TOGO – STALLED DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION" Archived September 2, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Centre for Democracy & Development, November 28, 2000.
7. Historique du ministère | Ministère de l'Economie et des Finances
8. "Sommet de l’Union africaine – Durban 2002 (5) : L’OUA, quarante ans d'histoire…", rfi.fr, May 16, 2002 (in French).
9. Stefan Talmon, Recognition of Governments in International Law (1998), Oxford University Press, page 187.
10. Omar A. Touray, The Gambia and the World: A History of the Foreign Policy of Africa's Smallest State, 1965–1995 (2000), page 151.
11. "Togo/législatives: l'ex-Premier ministre Kodjo candidat dans son fief", Xinhua (Jeuneafrique.com), August 12, 2007 (in French).
12. "DÉMOCRATISATION À LA TOGOLAISE" Archived January 6, 2009, at the Wayback Machine ("L’énarque et le «parti croupion»"), Tètè Tété, 1998 (diastode.org) (in French).
13. Marien, Michael (January 1, 1988). Future Survey Annual 1987: A Guide to the Recent Literature of Trends, Forecasts, and Policy Proposals. Transaction Publishers. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-930242-34-3.
14. "Démocratisation à la Togolaise", Tètè Tété, 1998 (in French). Archived December 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
15. "Togo. Le collectif de l’opposition", L'Humanité, July 22, 1993 (in French).
16. John R. Heilbrunn, "Togo: The National Conference and Stalled Reform", in Political Reform in Francophone Africa (1997), ed. John F. Clark and David E. Gardinier, page 240.
17. Africa South of the Sahara 2004 (2003), Routledge, page 1,145.
18. "Togo Premier Named", The New York Times, April 24, 1994.
19. "Chronology for Kabre in Togo", Minorities at Risk Project, 2004.
20. "May 1994 – New government", Keesing's Record of World Events, volume 40, May 1994, Togo, page 39,995.
21. "Togo – Opposition members attacked", IRIN-WA Daily Media Update 30–97, August 15, 1997.
22. "Togo: Call for one opposition candidate", IRIN-West Africa Update 200, May 5, 1998.
23. "Partis politiques d'opposition du Togo". Afrique Express (in French). Archived from the original on February 5, 2006. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
24. "Togo: Opposition alliance", The New York Times, August 17, 1999.
25. Political Parties of the World (6th edition, 2005), ed. Bogdan Szajkowski, page 591.
26. "Togo: Security personel to vote on Thursday instead of Sunday", IRIN, May 28, 2003.
27. "Togo: Constitutional Court upholds Olympio's rejection", IRIN, May 7, 2003.
28. "RAPPORT DE LA MISSION EXPLORATOIRE DEPECHEE DANS LA PERSPECTIVE DE L’ELECTION PRESIDENTIELLE ANTICIPEE DU 24 AVRIL 2005 AU TOGO" Archived June 22, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, democratie.francophonie.org (in French).
29. "Edem Kodjo, un Premier ministre sans transition", Radio France Internationale, June 9, 2005 (in French).
30. "La transparence n’est pas au rendez-vous" Archived May 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, L'Humanité, June 5, 2003 (in French).
31. "President snubs opponents for 'moderate' prime minister", IRIN, June 9, 2005.
32. "Former Togolese premier hands over to successor, Edem Kodjo – radio report", Radio Togo, June 10, 2005.
33. Ebow Godwin, "Togo's President Names Opposition Party", Associated Press, September 16, 2006.
34. "Togo : Edem Kodjo coopté ministre d’Etat dans le gouvernement Agboyibo" Archived October 22, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, Infosplusgabon.com, September 26, 2006.
35. Text of Constitutional Court decision (final election results), October 30, 2007 (in French). "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 29, 2007. Retrieved December 4, 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
36. "Edem Kodjo prend de la distance", Republicoftogo.com, April 26, 2009 (in French).
37. Iloniaina Alain, "Les émissaires francophones rassurent" Archived October 22, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, L'Express de Madagascar, May 13, 2009 (in French).
38. Tshitenge Lubabu, "La quatrième vie d'Edem Kodjo", Jeune Afrique, May 26, 2009 (in French).
39. Aaron Ross, "Congo opposition rejects talks with Kabila government over election", Reuters, August 20, 2016.
40. Shaban, Abdur Rahman (April 12, 2020). "Edem Kodjo: Togo mourns ex-Prime Minister, Africa remembers ex-OAU chief". AfricaNews.