Interview · Togolese Diplomacy
New York · Friday, September 4, 2026
Exclusive interview Robert Dussey: “Correcting the map means correcting the way we see”
A conversation with
H.E. Prof. Robert Dussey
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation, African Integration and Togolese Abroad
Friday, September 4, 2026, New York. In the hall of the United Nations General Assembly, a vote lands like a diplomatic thunderclap: 164 votes in favor, only one against. The text is entitled “Correct the Map: Rebalancing the World’s Cartographic Representation and Promoting the Equitable Representation of the Regions of the World, Particularly Africa.”
Behind the technical title lies a political turning point. Togo, mandated by the African Union, has just secured worldwide recognition of what geographers have long known: the Mercator projection, inherited from the 16th century, has miniaturized Africa in the collective imagination.
This is no mere detail on a world map. It is a battle over how we see. On school maps, Greenland appears to rival a continent fourteen times its size. Generation after generation, this distortion has shaped textbooks, software and narratives of power. On Friday, the UN chose to name it — and to open the way to more faithful representations, notably the Equal Earth projection.
Behind this endeavor: the steadfastness of the President of the Council, Faure Gnassingbé, who elevated the question to a pillar of the country’s diplomacy. At the helm in New York: Robert Dussey, Minister of Foreign Affairs, who turned a decision taken in Addis Ababa into a universal resolution.
In the interview that follows, the head of Togolese diplomacy looks back on this victory, pays tribute to Faure Gnassingbé’s determination, thanks the African Union, and hammers home a clear line: correcting the map means correcting the way the world sees itself.
Republicoftogo.comOn Friday, in New York, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the “Correct the Map” resolution. 164 votes in favor, only one against. What was really at stake in that hall?
Robert Dussey: What was at stake was something simple and immense: the world agreed to look at Africa as it is, and not as it was drawn for her.
Maps are not scenery. They shape education, the imagination, the balance of power. When a 16th-century projection makes Greenland the visual equal of a continent fourteen times larger, that is no longer geography: it is a cognitive distortion reproduced from generation to generation. On Friday, 164 States said: enough.
Republicoftogo.comTogo carried the text on behalf of the African Union. How was this initiative born?
R.D.: It was born of a clear political conviction, carried with constancy by the President of the Council, Faure Gnassingbé. He is the one who made this question a pillar of our diplomacy, not a slogan. He understood very early that the dignity of a people also depends on how that people is represented.
I pay tribute to him. Without his determination, without his ability to turn an intuition into a continental strategy, we would never have gone from Addis Ababa to Lomé and then to New York. Togo did not improvise a diplomatic coup: it held its course.
Republicoftogo.comAnd the African Union?
R.D.: I thank the African Union. Without its mandate, without the unity of the African Group in New York, without the support of the Heads of State and of the Commission, this text would not have existed. Africa spoke with one voice. That is rare. That is precious. That is useful Pan-Africanism: not communiqués, but results.
When a continent of 1.4 billion people decides together to correct the image the world is given of it, the world listens.
Republicoftogo.comYou have at times been accused of politicizing a technical question. What is your answer?
R.D.: My answer is: science first. Mercator was designed for navigation. It remains useful for the sea and the sky. No one is banning it.
But when we teach, when we inform, when we compare surface areas, we have no right to lie to children. Africa covers more than 30 million km². It is not a shrunken patch between Europe and America. Equal Earth and equal-area projections do justice to reality.
This is not a war against the West. It is a demand for truth. Correcting the map means correcting the way we see.
Republicoftogo.comThe resolution is not binding. Is this a symbolic victory or a concrete lever?
R.D.: Both. A symbol that opens doors.
States are invited to review their textbooks. UNESCO, UNDP, digital platforms, publishers, tech companies: all are called upon to engage in dialogue. In Togo, we will move fast: our schools must show Africa in its true dimensions.
A child who grows up seeing their continent tiny internalizes a hierarchy. A child who sees it at its true size learns scale, responsibility, ambition. That is what is at stake. A victory for accuracy, and for every pupil who will tomorrow open a less deceitful atlas.
Republicoftogo.comThe United States voted alone against. Did that surprise you?
R.D.: A vote reveals each one’s priorities. We did not seek confrontation. We sought consensus. France co-sponsored. An overwhelming majority followed. When 164 countries say yes, the debate is no longer African: it is universal.
Africa does not need to be enlarged. It needs to stop being shrunk.
On Friday, the world chose the right measure. Now, that measure must make its way into classrooms, newsrooms, software — and minds.
That is President Faure Gnassingbé’s message. That is the African Union’s mandate. That is the fight we will continue to carry.