Landlocked country in NW Africa, bounded to the NE by Algeria, E by Niger, SE by Burkina Faso, S by the Ivory Coast, SW by Senegal and Guinea, and W and N by Mauritania.
government
The 1992 constitution provides for a president, elected by universal suffrage for a five-year term, and a 129-member national assembly, similarly elected for a five-year term, with 13 of its members representing Malians resident abroad. The president appoints a prime minister as head of government.
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 NW 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 W 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 NW 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 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 Traoré 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 1976. Despite student opposition to a one-party state and army objections to civilian rule, Traoré 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.
multiparty system endorsed
Violent demonstrations against one-party rule took place Jan 1991. In March 1991 Traoré was ousted in a coup and replaced by Lt-Col Amadou Toumani Toure. A new multiparty constitution was approved by referendum Jan 1992, and in the first multiparty presidential elections in April Toure was defeated and replaced by Alpha Oumar Konare of the Alliance for Democracy in Mali (ADEMA). In April 1993 Abdoulaye Sekou Sow was appointed prime minister, heading a government of “national unity”. An attempted antigovernment coup was foiled in Dec. Sow resigned and was replaced by Ibrahim Boubaker Keita Feb 1994.
A landlocked republic in Western Africa; Also called: French Sudan. + prikaži više