page_title: Sylvanus Olympio
section_title: Assassination
hierarchical_section_title: Sylvanus Olympio / Assassination
caption_attribution_description: Svenska: Afrikanska kvinnor sörjer Togos mördade president Sylvanus Olympio.
context_page_description: Sylvanus Épiphanio Olympio was a Togolese politician who served as Prime Minister, and then President, of Togo from 1958 until his assassination in 1963. He came from the important Olympio family, which included his uncle Octaviano Olympio, one of the richest people in Togo in the early 1900s. After graduating from the London School of Economics, he worked for Unilever and became the general manager of the African operations of that company. After World War II, Olympio became prominent in efforts for independence of Togo and his party won the 1958 election making him the Prime Minister of the country. His power was further cemented when Togo achieved independence and he won the 1961 election making him the first President of Togo. He was assassinated during the 1963 Togolese coup d'état.
context_section_description: Shortly after midnight on 13 January 1963, Olympio and his wife were awakened by members of the military breaking into their house. Before dawn, Olympio's body was discovered by the U.S. Ambassador Leon B. Poullada three feet from the door to the U.S. Embassy. It was the first coup d'état in the French and British colonies in Africa that achieved independence in the 1950s and 1960s, and Olympio is remembered as the first President to be assassinated during a military coup in Africa. Étienne Eyadéma, who would claim power in 1967 and remain in office until 2005, claimed to have personally fired the shot that killed Olympio while Olympio tried to escape. Emmanuel Bodjollé became the head of the government for two days until the military created a new government headed by Nicolas Grunitzky, as President, and Antoine Meatchi, as Vice President.
  The assassination sent shock waves throughout Africa.  Guinea, Liberia, the Ivory Coast, and Tanganyika all denounced the coup and the assassination, while only Senegal and Ghana (and to a lesser extent Benin) recognized the government of Grunitzky and Meatchi until elections in May. The government of Togo was excluded from the Addis Ababa Conference which formed the Organisation of African Unity later that year as a result of the coup.
caption: Women mourning the murder of president Olympio
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