Togo Celebrates A Decade of Independence From France | Eyadema Hosts 5 Presidents | April 1970

Monday, April 27th 1970.
Footage of the 10th Independence Day Celebrations of Togo in the national capital Lome where General Gnassingbe Eyadema presided over a parade.
Five African Heads of State were present. They were President Felix Houphouet-Boigny of the Ivory Coast, Hamani Diori of Niger, Sangoule Lamizana of Upper Volta and Albert-Bernard Bongo of Gabon.
Reuters Text:
Troops, students and children were among the contingents passing in review before the heads of state for three-and-a-half hours.
The military units were able to parade their new tanks and half-tracks recently delivered to Togo by France.
Further evidence of the close links maintained with France in the decade following Togo's independence was to be found in the many leading Frenchmen among the guests. They included the Chairman of the European Common Market Overseas Development Group, M. Henri Rochereau, the Secretary-General at the French Presidency for Afro-Malagasy Affairs, M. Jacques Foccart, and a former Mayor of Calais, M. Jacques Vendroux.
M. Vendroux, son-in-law of General de Gaulle, is current President of the European-African Association in the French Parliament. He was in Lome for the "twinning" of the capital with Calais.
The anniversary parade was hailed as symbolic of Togo's decade of progress. Despite periods of political difficulty, the country had achieved an equilibrium which could be held up as a lesson and example to countries plunged into disunity by tribalism and division.
Source: Reuters News Archive.

[@worldcitizen8405]

I think the whole assets of the country was what displayed.

[@JJ_Goldman]

Man hours wasted on frivolities. This was the period to build a successor government but successive metropolitan authorities supported the despot Eyadema to maintain his grip in power.

[@chrissystewart6268]

Today is my first time seeing this video so I'd like to how the history

[@clementgavi7290]

The place where this celebration took place isn't far at all to the place where the president who fought for independence, I mean Sylvanus Olympio, was assassinated on January 13th, 1963, in other words, less than three years after the independence. It was the first deadly coup in Africa's history.

[@hendrixcudjoebrownecrabbe8976]

Good job Mr Archives man. Keep it up

[@elijahufelix]

Awesome

[@adamaalphonse]

10 years of Togonistan