Assassination of Sylvanus Olympio

Date: January 13, 1963 • Location: Lomé, Togo

This milestone marked the outbreak and beginning of this historic period, which spanned 1963.

Togo's first president, Sylvanus Olympio (pictured), was assassinated by military officers in a coup d'état led by Emmanuel Bodjollé, Étienne Eyadéma, and Kléber Dadjo.

Sylvanus Épiphanio Olympio was a Togolese politician who was 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 1900s.