Joseph Kokou Koffigoh

Joseph Kokou Koffigoh (born 1948) is a Togolese politician, human rights activist, and a poet who served as Prime Minister of Togo from 27 August 1991 to 25 April 1994. Elected as Prime Minister by the opposition-dominated National Conference in 1991, Koffigoh was given full executive powers and tasked with overseeing a transition to multiparty elections. Beginning in December 1991, however, President Gnassingbé Eyadéma increasingly reasserted his authority at Koffigoh's expense. Although Koffigoh remained in office, the opposition eventually abandoned him, feeling he had become too cooperative with Eyadéma.

Koffigoh has been the President of the Coordination of New Forces (CFN) since 1993. He was replaced as Prime Minister after the 1994 parliamentary election, in which the CFN performed poorly, although Koffigoh himself won a seat in the National Assembly. Later, he was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1998 to 2000 and Minister of Regional Integration, in charge of Relations with Parliament, from 2000 to 2002.

Koffigoh was born in Kpélé Dafo. He served as the head of Togo's Bar Association and in August 1990 he founded the first human rights organization in the country, the Togolese League of Human Rights (Ligue togolaise des droits de l'homme, LTDH), which quickly won support both at home and abroad. He was elected as Prime Minister by the National Conference on 27 August 1991; President Gnassingbé Eyadéma was stripped of his powers and was left as a ceremonial president. Koffigoh was tasked by the Conference with forming a transitional government leading to elections that were then planned to be held in 1992, in which neither Koffigoh nor Eyadéma were to be allowed to run. Although Eyadéma had sought to suspend the Conference, surrounding the venue with soldiers, he subsequently accepted Koffigoh's appointment. Aside from serving as Prime Minister, Koffigoh also became Minister of Defense. According to the opposition, Koffigoh's subsequent appointments of supporters and friends to head public enterprises led to some criticism and antipathy from other members of the opposition; he was accused of strengthening his own power base rather than the unity of the opposition, thus weakening the opposition in the ongoing struggle against Eyadéma.

In the months following his appointment, troops loyal to Eyadéma repeatedly tried to oust Koffigoh. On 1 October 1991, they seized the national radio and television station and demanded that Koffigoh resign before leaving the station; Koffigoh said afterwards on the radio that order was restored. A week later, they unsuccessfully tried to kidnap Koffigoh, and four people were reported killed in protests and violence that followed. After Eyadéma's party, the Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), was banned by the transitional High Council of the Republic (HCR) in November 1991, soldiers began a siege of Koffigoh's official residence in Lomé in late November, demanding that Koffigoh's government be replaced and threatening to "reduce the city to ashes"; they also demanded that the RPT be legalized again and that the HCR be dissolved. Koffigoh called for French military aid. Eyadéma publicly called on the soldiers to return to their barracks and expressed continued trust in Koffigoh, but also invited him to begin consultations on the formation of a new national unity government. Following Eyadéma's call, as well as talks between Eyadéma and Koffigoh and between Eyadéma and the soldiers, the soldiers lifted their siege after two days; however, they promptly resumed it. To appease the soldiers, Koffigoh offered to include supporters of Eyadéma in the government, but he refused to dissolve his government altogether, and he again called for French aid.

...
Wikipedia