Mali
Mali's population consists of diverse Sub-Saharan ethnic groups,
sharing similar historic, cultural, and religious traditions.
Exceptions are the Tuaregs and Maurs, desert nomads, related to the
North African Berbers. The Tuaregs traditionally have opposed the
central government. Starting in June 1990, armed attacks in the
north by Tuaregs seeking greater autonomy led to clashes with the
military. In April 1992, the government and most opposing factions
signed a pact to end the fighting and restore stability in the
north. Its major aims are to allow greater autonomy to the north and
increase government resource allocation to what has been a
traditionally impoverished region. The peace agreement was
celebrated in 1996 in Timbuktu during an official and highly
publicized ceremony called Flamme de la Paix--peace flame.
Historically, good inter-ethnic relations throughout the rest of the
country were facilitated by easy mobility on the Niger River and
across the country's vast savannahs. Each ethnic group was
traditionally tied to a specific occupation, all working within
close proximity. The Bambara, Malinke, and Dogon are farmers; the
Fulani, Maur, and Tuareg are herders; the Soninkés or Saracolés are
traders; while the Bozo are fishers. In recent years, this linkage
has shifted as ethnic groups seek diverse, nontraditional sources of
income.
Although each ethnic group speaks a separate language, nearly 80% of
Malians communicate in Bambara, the common language of the
marketplace. Malians enjoy a relative harmony rare in African
states. |
|
Malians express great pride in their ancestry. Mali is the cultural
heir to the succession of ancient African empires--Ghana, Malinké,
and Songhai--that occupied the West African savannah. These empires
controlled Saharan trade and were in touch with Mediterranean and
Middle Eastern centers of civilization.
The Ghana Empire, dominated by the Soninke or Saracolé people and
centered in the area along the Malian-Mauritanian frontier, was a
powerful trading state from about A.D. 700 to 1075. The Malinke
Kingdom of Mali had its origins on the upper Niger River in the 11th
century. Expanding rapidly in the 13th century under the leadership
of Soundiata Keita, it reached its height about 1325, when it
conquered Timbuktu and Gao. Thereafter, the kingdom began to
decline, and by the 15th century, it controlled only a small
fraction of its former domain.
The Songhai Empire expanded its power from its center in Gao during
the period 1465-1530. At its peak under Askia Mohammad I, it
encompassed the Hausa states as far as Kano (in present-day Nigeria)
and much of the territory that had belonged to the Mali Empire in
the west. It was destroyed by a Moroccan invasion in 1591. Timbuktu
was a center of commerce and of the Islamic faith throughout this
period, and priceless manuscripts from this epoch are still
preserved in Timbuktu. The United States and other donors are making
efforts to help preserve these priceless manuscripts as part of
Mali's cultural heritage.
French military penetration of the Soudan (the French name for the
area) began around 1880. Ten years later, the French made a
concerted effort to occupy the interior. The timing and resident
military governors determined methods of their advances. A French
civilian governor of Soudan was appointed in 1893, but resistance to
French control did not end until 1898, when the Malinké warrior
Samory Touré was defeated after 7 years of war. The French attempted
to rule indirectly, but in many areas they disregarded traditional
authorities and governed through appointed chiefs. As the colony of
French Soudan, Mali was administered with other French colonial
territories as the Federation of French West Africa.
In 1956, with the passing of France's Fundamental Law (Loi Cadre),
the Territorial Assembly obtained extensive powers over internal
affairs and was permitted to form a cabinet with executive authority
over matters within the Assembly's competence. After the 1958 French
constitutional referendum, the Republique Soudanaise became a member
of the French Community and enjoyed complete internal autonomy.
In January 1959, Soudan joined Senegal to form the Mali Federation,
which became fully independent within the French Community on June
20, 1960. The federation collapsed on August 20, 1960, when Senegal
seceded. On September 22, Soudan proclaimed itself the Republic of
Mali and withdrew from the French Community.
President Modibo Keita--whose party Union Soudanaise du
Rassemblement Democratique Africain (US/RDA) had dominated
preindependence politics--moved quickly to declare a single-party
state and to pursue a socialist policy based on extensive
nationalization. A continuously deteriorating economy led to a
decision to rejoin the Franc Zone in 1967 and modify some of the
economic excesses.
On November 19, 1968, a group of young officers staged a bloodless
coup and set up a 14-member Military Committee for National
Liberation (CMLN), with Lt. Moussa Traore as President. The military
leaders attempted to pursue economic reforms but for several years
faced debilitating internal political struggles and the disastrous
Sahelian drought.
A new constitution, approved in 1974, created a one-party state and
was designed to move Mali toward civilian rule. However, the
military leaders remained in power. In September 1976, a new
political party was established, the Democratic Union of the Malian
People (UDPM), based on the concept of democratic centralism.
Single-party presidential and legislative elections were held in
June 1979, and Gen. Moussa Traore received 99% of the votes. His
efforts at consolidating the single-party government were challenged
in 1980 by student-led, anti-government demonstrations, which were
brutally put down, and by three coup attempts.
The political situation stabilized during 1981 and 1982 and remained
generally calm throughout the 1980s. The UDPM spread its structure
to cercles and arrondissements (administrative subdivisions) across
the land. Shifting its attention to Mali's economic difficulties,
the government approved plans for cereal marketing liberalization,
reform in the state enterprise system, and new incentives to private
enterprise, and worked out a new structural adjustment agreement
with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, by 1990, there
was growing dissatisfaction with the demands for austerity imposed
by the IMF's economic reform programs and the perception that the
President and his close associates were not themselves adhering to
those demands.
As in other African countries, demands for multiparty democracy
increased. The Traore government allowed some opening of the system,
including the establishment of an independent press and independent
political associations, but insisted that Mali was not ready for
democracy. In early 1991, student-led, anti-government rioting broke
out again, but this time government workers and others supported it.
On March 26, 1991, after 4 days of intense anti-government rioting,
a group of 17 military officers arrested President Traore and
suspended the constitution. Within days, these officers joined with
the Coordinating Committee of Democratic Associations to form a
predominantly civilian, 25-member ruling body, the Transitional
Committee for the Salvation of the People (CTSP). The CTSP then
appointed a civilian-led government. A national conference held in
August 1991 produced a draft constitution (approved in a referendum
January 12, 1992), a charter for political parties, and an electoral
code. Political parties were allowed to form freely. Between January
and April 1992, a president, National Assembly, and municipal
councils were elected. On June 8, 1992, Alpha Oumar Konare, the
candidate of the Alliance for Democracy in Mali (ADEMA), was
inaugurated as the President of Mali's Third Republic.
In 1997, attempts to renew national institutions through democratic
elections ran into administrative difficulties, resulting in a
court-ordered annulment of the legislative elections held in April
1997. The exercise, nonetheless, demonstrated the overwhelming
strength of President Konare's ADEMA Party, causing some other
historic parties to boycott subsequent elections. President Konare
won the presidential election against scant opposition on May 11. In
the two-round legislative elections conducted on July 21 and August
3, 1997, ADEMA secured more than 80% of the National Assembly seats.
General elections were organized in June and July 2002. President
Konare did not seek reelection since he was serving his second and
last term as required by the constitution. All political parties
participated in the elections. In preparation for the elections, the
government completed a new voter's list after a general census was
administered a few months earlier with the support of all political
parties. Retired General Amadou Toumani Toure, former head of state
during Mali's transition (1991-1992) became the country's second
democratically elected President as an independent candidate in
2002, and was reelected to a second 5-year term in 2007. |
|
