Togo: The Dictator’s New Clothes

LOMÉ- Vendors crowd the unpaved streets of Lome, selling Seiko watches and unpackaged socks. One of them, a small, barefoot boy, hawks a comic book called Il y avait une fois… Eyadema—”Once Upon a Time… Eyadema.” On the book’s glossy color cover, against a background of village scenes, battles, and parades, the face of its hero stands out under a military cap: the coal-black, unsmiling face, eyes slightly dull and ill-at-ease, of Togo’s preside...