General Gnassingbé Eyadéma, formerly Étienne Eyadema (born December 26, 1937), is the President of Togo. He has been head of state since January 13, 1967 and is Africa's longest-serving head of state.

Born in the town of Pya , his original given name was Étienne, which he Africanized in 1974. Eyadema served in the French army (1953 – 1961) in Algeria and Indochina, however, when Togo became independent in 1960, he and other veterans of the French military were denied entry into the army by the country's first president, Sylvanus Olympio. This led to a coup against Olympio by the disenfranchised soldiers on January 13, 1963. Eyadema, a leader of the coup, was then appointed the country's new chief of staff under a civilian president. Eyadema seized power again in 1967, on the anniversary of the 1963 coup, and assumed the offices of president and minister of national defense.

Eyadema subsequently won uncontested elections in 1972, 1979, and 1986. A national conference in 1991 attempted to force him from power, but Eyadema managed to remain in power with the backing of the army. He attempted to legitimize his rule with ostensibly democratic elections in 1993, and narrowly won reelection in 1998, amid accusations of the massacre of hundreds of government opponents.

In early 2003, the constitution of Togo was changed to remove term limits on the office of president; previously, presidents had been limited to two five-year terms, and Eyadema would have therefore been forced to step down after the 2003 elections. With the removal of these limitations, however, Eyadema was free to stand again and did so, winning the elections on June 1 with 57.2% of the vote.