[Stanley Meisler, now a member of the Washington AP staff, interviewed Togo leaders last year while spending several months touring African nations] The United States likely can expect a far less friendly regime to succeed the one of murdered Sylvanus Olympio in the little land of Togo in West Africa. The situation in Togo still is unclear. But the first cloudy signs indicate that the men who assassinated President Olympio and left his body outside the U.S. Embassy Sunday want a militantly nationalist government, less tied to the West. The White House, when informed of Olympio's death, issued a statement that "the United States government is profoundly shocked by the news of the assassination. President Olympio was one of Africa's most distinguished leaders and was warmly received here on his recent visit to the United States." Three forces figure in the background of Togo's troubles: the persistence of tribalism, the influence of President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, and, most important, the impatience of radical youths. In Africa, young people, because they usually are more educated than their elders, occupy posts of greater importance than young people anywhere else in the world. Nevertheless, an older generation still controls the key positions of power...

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