Togo

Togo is a small West African coastal state wedged between Ghana, Benin and Burkina Faso, oriented toward the Gulf of Guinea and a member of ECOWAS and the broader Francophone bloc. Its politics have long been dominated by the Gnassingbé family, with Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé—who has led the country since 2005—now serving as head of government under a 2024 constitutional reform that shifted Togo toward a parliamentary-style system and elevated a separate presidential figurehead. The ruling Union for the Republic holds firm control, and opposition complaints over entrenched single-family rule and electoral fairness are recurring fault lines. Regional concerns include spillover of jihadist insecurity from the Sahel into the country's northern border areas.