Gnassingbe eyadema biography of albert

President Eyadema was, for his time, Africa's longest-serving ruler - a title he acquired after the death of King Hassan II of Morocco in 1999.

He was particularly associated with a group of Francophone West African leaders who retained close personal links with their counterparts in France, the former colonial power.

Born to a peasant family in northern Togo, the young Sergeant Eyadema seized power in 1967 after staging one of Africa's first coups soon after Togo won independence from France - an achievement noted and copied elsewhere.

He ruled unchallenged for two decades and did not face a multi-party election until 1993, when the collapse of Communism in the Soviet bloc led to a wave of pressure for change across Africa.