Mali
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Landlocked country in northwest Africa, bounded to the northeast by Algeria, east by Niger, southeast by Burkina Faso, south by Côte d'Ivoire, southwest by Senegal and Guinea, and west and north by Mauritania.
Government
Mali is a multiparty presidential democracy. The 1992 constitution provides for an executive president, elected by universal suffrage for a five-year term, who serves as head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. There is a single-chamber legislature, the national assembly, comprising 147 members directly elected for five-year terms. The president appoints a prime minister as head of government. Political parties based on ethnic, religious, regional, or gender lines are not permitted. The country comprises eight regions and the capital district of Bamako, each administered by a commandant.History
From the 7th to the 11th century part of the Ghana Empire (see Ghana, ancient), then of the Muslim Mali Empire, which flourished in northwest Africa during the 7th–15th centuries, the area now known as Mali came under the rule of the Songhai Empire during the 15th–16th centuries. In 1591 an invasion by Moroccan forces seeking to take over the west Sudanese gold trade destroyed the Songhai Empire and left the area divided into small kingdoms.Because of its inland position, the region had little contact with Europeans, who were trading around the coast from the 16th century, and it was not until the 19th century that France, by means of treaties with local rulers, established colonies throughout most of northwest Africa. As French Sudan, Mali was part of French West Africa from 1895. In 1959, with Senegal, it formed the Federation of Mali. In 1960 Senegal left, and Mali became a fully independent republic.
Independence
Its first president, Modibo Keita, imposed an authoritarian socialist regime, but his economic policies failed, and he was removed in an army coup in 1968. The constitution was suspended, political activity was banned, and government was placed in the hands of a Military Committee for National Liberation (CMLN) with Lt Moussa Traore as president and head of state. In 1969 he became prime minister as well. He promised a return to civilian rule, and in 1974 a new constitution made Mali a one-party state. A new party, the Malian People's Democratic Union (UDPM), was announced in 1976. Despite student opposition to a one-party state and army objections to civilian rule, Traore successfully made the transition so that by 1979 Mali had a constitutional government, while ultimate power lay with the party and the military establishment.Foreign relations
In 1983 Mali and Guinea signed an agreement for eventual economic and political integration. In 1985 a border dispute with Burkina Faso resulted in a five-day conflict that was settled by the International Court of Justice. A peace pact was signed with Tuareg rebels in northern Mali in 1992.Multiparty system endorsed
Violent demonstrations against one-party rule took place in January 1991. In March 1991 Traore was ousted in a coup and replaced by Lt-Col Amadou Toumani Touré. A new multiparty constitution was approved by referendum in January 1992, and in the first multiparty presidential elections in April 1992 Touré was defeated and replaced by Alpha Oumar Konare of the Alliance for Democracy in Mali (ADEMA). Touré acquired the nickname, ‘The Soldier of Democracy’ for his peaceful handover of power.In April 1993, Abdoulaye Sekou Sow was appointed prime minister, heading a government of ‘national unity’. An attempted anti-government coup was foiled in December 1993. Sow was replaced by Ibrahim Keita following student demonstrations in February 1994. Following media criticisms of his economic management, in February 2000 Prime Minister Keita resigned. He was succeeded by Mande Sidibe, a former International Monetary Fund (IMF) official.
Return to power of Amadou Touré
In March 2002 Sidibe resigned to contest the presidential elections, and was replaced by former president Modibo Keita. The former military leader Amadou Touré, now retired as a general, was elected president in May 2002, winning 64% of the vote in the run-off election. As an independent, he ruled by drawing into his government members from all the country's main political parties and brought stability. He appointed Mali's former ambassador to the UK, Ahmed Mohamed ag Hamani, as his prime minister and replaced him, in 2004, with Ousmane Issoufi Maïga, a former finance minister. He was replaced in 2007 by Modibo Sidibé.How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content.
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