Second of Seven

In Lome, sweltering capital of what was once the French Togoland, the French tricolor fluttered to the ground for the last time. Then two strapping Togolese soldiers smartly raised the new yellow-and-green-barred emblem of the free and independent republic of Togo as a French man-of-war in the harbor boomed a 101-gun salute and 20,000 Togolese, shouting "ablode, ablode" (freedom), snake-danced through the palm-lined streets behind a blaring brass band and native drummers. Thus last week was born the second of seven new African nations, due to join the world family of nations this year.*

--First colonized (and named) by Germany 76 years ago, Togoland after World War II was split into British and French mandates without regard to tribal boundaries. In 1957 the British portion was folded into Ghana, whose ambitious Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah openly covets the French part he did not get. As late as 1958, France was still stubbornly rejecting any talk of Togo independence. Then under prodding from Togo's able pro-Western nationalist, Sylvanus Olympic, 57, the U.N. ordered an election in which Olympio's Committee for Togolese Unity swept two-thirds of the seats, and thereupon negotiated Togo's independence.

Togo is smaller than West Virginia and not much more populous than Maine. Traditionally an exporter of agricultural raw materials (cocoa, coffee), the country since World War II has made considerable strides, and with French capital is opening up rich phosphate deposits.

To potential investors the country's biggest asset is Olympio himself, a big man in a small country. A graduate of the London School of Economics, Olympio has almost eliminated a national deficit equal to one-third of the budget by impartially enforcing taxes, carefully auditing government accounts and setting an example of Spartan frugality. Declining to live in the official Prime Minister's house, he often bicycles to work, carefully turns off the refrigerator before going to bed "because I wouldn't want the electric people to think I'm becoming extravagant."

* The first: Cameroon, Jan. 1. Others, later this year: Belgian Congo, Somalia, the Malagasy Republic, the Mali Federation, Nigeria.

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