National Gendarmerie of Togo
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1960 Ministry of attachment: Ministère de la Défense et des Anciens combattants Workforce: 4 000 General manager: Colonel Yotrofeï MASSINA Address: BP 366 Lomé Togo Tél.: 00 (228) 22 22 21 43 Website: defense.gouv.tg Human resources and Communication: Chef d’escadron KOLANI Monoka 
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History
German protectorate from 1884 till 1914, Togo passes under French-English control at the beginning of the World War I. In February 1915, the “Native Guard” is created. It becomes afterward the “Native militia” company in 1925. The part under French control is placed at first under the League Of Nations (LON) mandate confided to France, then pass under the United Nations Organisation (UNO) supervision in 1946. A French Colonial Gendarmerie detachment becomes established in September 1942 within the framework of the French West Africa (AOF) there. It is modified and transform into section by the decree n° 49-1365 of August 23rd, 1949, then into Group by the interministerial decision of November 27th 1951. The “africanisation” of the Togolese Gendarmerie begins with the decree n° 57-1284 of December 16th, 1957 with regard to the creation of an “overseas frame”. On April 27th, 1960, Togo acquires its independence. August 22nd, 1961, the decree n° 61-71 create the Togolese National Gendarmerie, whereas the decree n° 61-72 establishes a police corps with a military character named “The Togolese Guard” from the Native Militia company. The order n° 7/PR/CAB of January 31st, 1963 integrates within the Togolese national Army the Anti-riot mobile gendarmerie stemming from the Togolese Guard and the Territorial Gendarmerie. The decree n° 65-146 of August 31st, 1965 merge the Mobile Gendarmerie and the Territorial Gendarmerie in the “Togolese national Gendarmerie”. This one is reorganized by the 13rd October 1995 decree n° 95-064 and its circular of application n° 236, then by the 25th January 2008 decree n° 2008/010/PR. The general provisions of the decree n° 2016-001/PR dated 10th January, 2016 stipulate that the National Gendarmerie is a security force with military status established in order to watch for the national security and public safety, to insure maintenance of law and order and the execution of the Laws. Its action is exerted throughout the territory. The Togolese National Gendarmerie is an integral part of the Togolese armed forces. It has its own budget, integrated to the Ministry of Defence budget.
Organization
Military force, it is under the President of the Republic’s control because the Ministry of Defence and War veteran is directly attached to the President of the Republic, since December the 13th, 2007. It is at the Secretary of the Security and the Lord Chancellor’s disposal, Minister of Justice, within the framework of the missions, which concern them.
Central Organization
The Togo National Gendarmerie direction consists of head offices and following services:
• the General Inspectorate of the Gendarmerie;
• the Direction of the operations and the employment;
• the Direction of staff and training;
• the Direction of the administration, the finances and the support.
Appointed by decree taken in Council of Ministers, the National Gendarmerie General Director is directly placed under the Minister of Defence’s authority. He is placed under the Togolese armed forces Chief of Staff’s authority for the Gendarmerie military missions.
The Gendarmerie Director can be a general officer or a senior officer, a magistrate or a senior official. A Deputy Chief Executive Officer, who is a Gendarmerie general officer or a senior officer, assists the Director of the Gendarmerie. The General Director’s attributions are fixed by decree, in Council of Ministers.
Territorial organization
• 2 regions of Gendarmerie having the same territorial competence as the military regions and the police regions:
- the 1st region of Gendarmerie covers the sector of the maritime region and of the Plateaux region,
- the 2nd region of Gendarmerie covers the sectors of the central region, the Kara and the Savannah regions;
• 2 squads of mobile Gendarmes attached to every region;
• 2 Gendarmerie armoured squadrons;
• 2 regional Security and Intervention groups attached to every region;
• 2 regional centres of support of the Gendarmerie attached to every region;
• 2 sections of research and criminal investigation attached to every region;
• 5 squads of territorial Gendarmes (one by sector). Each squad consisting of:
- Companies,
- PSIG (Gendarmerie Intervention and Surveillance Platoon),
- Territorial brigades,
- Specialized brigades (brigades of research and criminal investigation and police gang task force).
Specialized Training
• The Republican guard. It has for mission to guard national palaces, public buildings, institutional organs of the State, to insure the state high authorities ‘protection, to perform the services of honours and escort of the president, the Prime Minister and the distinguished guests. It is placed under the direct authority of the Gendarmerie General Director.
• The National Gendarmerie Security and Intervention Group (NGSIG).
• The Maritime Gendarmerie squad.
• The Gendarmerie Air Transport squad.
• The Research and Criminal Investigation central service.
• The Gendarmerie Provost-ship/military Police squad.
• The National Gendarmerie central establishment of administration and support.
Missions
The National Gendarmerie watches over the public security and ensures the maintenance of law and order and the execution of the laws missions, its action being performed on the whole of the national territory.
The Gendarmerie essentially ensures the administrative police, Criminal Investigation and military police missions.
It also participates in the functioning of the administrations and the public services, can intervene on its daily ordinary and extraordinary services, mainly through requisition.
It also participates in the “outside/overseas missions” reinforcement, under the aegis of the international or regional organizations (UNO, ECOWAS), both for individual and formed units’ reinforcement, such as the FPU or the Close security platoons (Darfur, Ivory Coast, Mali).
Staff
On March 1st, 2013, the Togolese Gendarmerie numbers 3627 staffs split up as follows:
• 122 officers;
• 2226 non-commissioned officers;
• 1279 pupil gendarmes ("élève gendarmes" in French) and deputy gendarmes ("Gendarme adjoint" in French).
The all staffs of the Gendarmerie have a military status. In 2016, there are 4000 men and women.
Training institutions
The recruitment is made by competitive examination, according to the budgetary staff annually granted by the Ministry of Defence. The training is differentiated according to bodies:
• the officers are trained in several initial training school in France, or African regional vocation Schools or within the Togolese armed forces officers’ training school in Pya;
• the non-commissioned officers are all trained within the National Gendarmerie School (NGS) in charge of the staffs’ initial and continuous training. Located in the urban area of Lomé, the NGS includes two sites of instruction distant from 10 kilometres one of the other one:
- the main site in Lomé, having an accommodation facilities of 300 people, 3 rooms of instruction, an educational documentation centre and a computer room,
- a secondary site, located in Lomé West periphery, in Baguida, which can welcome 500 trainees and possessing 6 rooms of instruction as well as an infirmary.
Evolutionary structure, the NGS adapted itself during these last 40 years of existence in order to take into account evolutions of the gendarme’s job and of the society in which this one is brought to act. Punctually, the NGS is also requested to support the progress of some competitions (Officers, ESSAL), to welcome seminaries or to take care of specific trainings for the benefit of operational units (initiation into the computing, refresher courses).
Main equipment
• Armament:
- collective weapons: machine guns,
- individual weapons: AK47, MAS36, semiautomatic rifle FSA, rifle grenade launcher (French FLG),
- handguns: automatic pistols PA Beretta & PA MAC50…
• Vehicles: ALTV Acmat and Toyota Hilux for the maintenance of law and order and the law and order missions, the motorcycles BMW for the escorts of honour and road safety missions, commercial range vehicles for the links, a van-pump for Public order missions.
• Nautical means: 2 Zodiac dinghies for the administrative and judicial police missions on the coast.
• Special means: the Gendarmerie has a software named "Biocrim" feeding a judicial file and allowing the parallel between fingerprints, and shared with the Togolese police.
Cooperation
An agreement signed with France plans a project for "Gendarmerie internal security support" integrating the presence of a French Gendarmerie senior officer and the logistic an advice contribution for the benefit of the Togolese General Director. This project manager completes the internal action of the French embassy Interior Security Service in various domains of partnership and expertise (airport security, fights against the illegal traffics, mutualized trainings with the National police force, etc.).
© The iconography was provided by the concerned gendarmeries