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The Uncertain Frontier: Ghana-Togo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Dennis Austin
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Extract

The unsatisfactory nature of the frontiers between the independent African states is widely stressed, and provides an additional argument for those who would like to see a regrouping of the African scene in terms of larger political units. This short article discusses the boundary between Ghana and Togo—a classic example (it might be thought) of colonial division calling for early revision along rational lines. It was demarcated between Britain and France some 40 years ago: now African governments have come into existence on both sides under leaders who have given their support at one time or another to Pan-African movements for closer union. The alternative is likely to be constant friction, the interruption of trade, the harbouring of refugees seeking a base from which to continue a struggle already lost in their own country, and accusations by the party leaders in Ghana and Togo that these refugee organisations are actively sponsored by the Lomé or Accra governments. These unhappy consequences are indeed present today following the independence of Ghana in 1957 and Togo in 1960; and it is worth enquiring why they should have come about, in view of the great advantages which it is generally assumed would flow from a more cordial, open association between the two republics. In January 1963, the assassination of Sylvanus Olympio added a further, tragic element to the problem, although whether the coup d'état which installed a new, quasi-military government in Lome will materially alter the relationship between Ghana and Togo remains to be seen.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , June 1963 , pp. 139 - 145
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1963

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References

page 140 note 1 Figures are taken from Coleman, J. S., ‘Togoland’, International Conciliation, no. 509 (New York, 1956). The table here excludes such large groups as the Dagomba (in the North) and Ashanti (in the South) whose ethnic borders coincide approximately with those of the former Gold Coast plus the former British Trust Territory. It also ignores groups like the Gourma (in the North) and a number of the Fon and Adja-Ouatchi (in the South) who spread across the Togo-Dahomey border, and who would thus present an enlarged Ghana-Togo state with a new set of border problems vis-à-vis Dahomey. Thus, a ‘greater Ghana’ would still have to face some of the ethnic border problems which trouble it today.Google Scholar

page 144 note 1 Nicolas Grunitzky (b. 1913) was formerly leader of the Union démocratique des populations togolaises (formed out of the Parti togolaise du progrès and the Union des chefs et des populations du nord), a conservative coalition opposed to Olympio's Comité de l' unité togolaise. Grunitzky was Prime Minister, 1956–8, when the French granted a limited internal autonomy to the Trust Territory; prior to independence, he was generally regarded as pro-French and anti-Accra.

page 145 note 1 ‘Sénégal “an 2” par lui-même’, supplément à Développement et civilisations, 1962.