HISTORY
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 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 DemocratiqueAfricain--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.
