Edem Kodjo - Political and Diplomatic Career From The 1960s To The 1980s

Political and Diplomatic Career From The 1960s To The 1980s

Kodjo was born in Sokodé, Tchaoudjo Prefecture, Togo. After completing his studies in France, he was an administrator at the Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française from November 1964 to June 1967. He then returned to Togo and was appointed by President Gnassingbé Eyadéma as Secretary-General of the Ministry of Finance in July 1967. Kodjo participated in the creation of the Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) ruling party in late 1969 and became the new party's Secretary-General. He also wrote the "Green Book", which served as the ideological basis for the establishment of the RPT's single-party rule. He was removed from his position as RPT Secretary-General in 1971.

Kodjo served in Eyadéma's government as Minister of Finance from 1973 to 1976 and as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1976 to 1978..He was elected as the Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) at its summit in Khartoum on July 18–22, 1978. One of the key issues facing the OAU during Kodjo's five-year tenure was the status of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), which claimed independence for the former colony of Spanish Sahara, at that time partly occupied by Morocco. Kodjo controversially allowed the SADR to be seated as a member of the OAU on February 28, 1982, over the objections of Morocco and various other African countries that supported the Moroccan position. According to Kodjo, that decision was based simply on the fact that a majority of OAU member states had recognized the SADR, but it led to a serious crisis within the OAU, with a number of member states boycotting OAU meetings. Senegalese President Abdou Diouf accused Kodjo of "mischief-making".

After leaving his post as OAU Secretary-General in 1983, Kodjo lived in France, where he taught at the Sorbonne, wrote for Jeune Afrique, and founded a magazine, Afrique 2000. In 1985 he published Africa Tomorrow in France, which was later translated into English by E. B. Khan and published in the United States in 1987.