France’s Dirty Secret

First Coup d’État and Assassination in Postcolonial Africa

Résumé

On the morning of 13 January 1963, the president of Togo, Sylvanus Olympio, was assassinated in the first post-independence military coup staged in Africa. The coup began on the night of 12 January, when mutinous soldiers broke into Olympio’s house and crowded the first floor (Togo Death at Gate, 1963). With no means of escape, the president was forced to jump out of a window and seek refuge in the US embassy next door (Togo Death at Gate, 1963). Olympio hid inside a vehicle belonging to the embassy, as he could not enter the locked building (Boisbouvier, 2021). Testimony from Gilchrist Olympio, the son of Sylvanus Olympio, revealed that Ambassador  Leon Poullada had gone to the embassy in search of the president after being informed by Henri Mayozer that a coup was underway (Boisbouvier, 2021). When Poullada arrived at the embassy, Olympio immediately requested his assistance, and the American advised him to stay hidden inside the vehicle until he returned with the key to open the building (Boisbouvier, 2021). However, frightened about the ongoing situation, Poullada never returned (Boisbouvier, 2021). The rebel soldiers later entered the embassy, found the president, and shot him dead. [...]