Victims of an attempted military coup lie in a morgue in Lome, Togo's capital, on December 5, 1991; on December 3, Togo's military stormed the official residence and detained the prime minister.

　　Victims of an attempted military coup lie in a morgue in Lome, the capital of Togo, on December 5, 1991, after the Supreme Council of the Republic of Togo (HCR) voted to dissolve President Eyamade's political party (RPT) in November 1991, and on December 3 the Togo army stormed the official residence and detained the prime minister.Eyamade became the longest-serving president in African history from 1967 until his death in 2005.

　Loyal to Eyadema, Togo's military took over Lome's state broadcaster on October 1 after the government failed to pay salaries. The Togo army demanded HCR's resignation, but he was ordered back to the barracks by Eyadema.About five people were killed in this mayhem. A week later, the presidential guard, this time under the command of Eyadema's half-brother, attempted to arrest the prime minister and HCR representative, Joseph Kokoo Kofigor.The arrest resulted in further deaths and the arrest of Eyadema's half-brother and several other officers.

　　The commission drafted a new constitution, and the struggle between Eyadema and Kofigo's supporters continued until the fall of 1991, when the Togolese army was mobilized in November 1991 to quell the protests. A curfew was imposed in the capital city of Lome. Outbreaks of violence continued until the beginning of 1992, when in early May 1992, an assassination attempt on Olympio, blamed on Togo's military, sparked a two-day general strike in the capital Lome. Due to continued disturbances, no elections were held in 1992-1993; in March 1992, a military camp in Lome, where Eyadema resided, was attacked and blamed on Olympio supporters; in April 1992, presidential elections were announced for June; in May 1992, targets on both the government and opposition sides were attacked; and in May 1992, a series of bombings targeting the government and opposition sides were carried out. The elections were postponed due to a series of bombings targeting both government and opposition targets in May 1992. New elections were scheduled for January 1994, but another armed attack on a military base in Eyadema was blamed on Olympio and the Ghanaian government, and the elections were postponed until January.

　　The elections resulted in a victory for the opposition coalition. The political violence plaguing the country was not resolved: in October, Togo's phosphate bureau, the government agency that controls the country's main industry, was attacked. The unrest continued after the opposition coalition collapsed due to defections to Eyadema's party, hindering Togo's transition to democracy; a rally of about 100,000 opposition supporters was held in the capital in May 1997, where Eyadema was accused of manipulating the political system. The peaceful nature of the protests and the fact that the Togo military allowed them to take place left many political and ethnic issues unresolved, although Togo is maturing as a viable democracy.