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Thursday, March 22, 2012

Mali and Malian News


Mali officially the Republic of Mali is a landlocked country in West Africa.Mali is divided into eight regions and one district. Each region has a governor.
Capital                    Bamako
Currency                West African CFA Franc
Population              15 Million (2010 Estimate)
Official Language    French
Religion                  90% Islam;5%Christianity and 5% Others

History
In the late 19th century,France seized control of Mali making it a part of French Sudan.  French Sudan (then known as the Sudanese Republic) joined with Senegal in 1959, achieving independence in 1960 as the Mali Federation(April 4,1960). Shortly thereafter, following Senegal's withdrawal from the federation, the Sudanese Republic declared itself the independent Republic of Mali.(Sep 22,1960)

Modibo Keïta Regime
 













Modibo Keita was elected the first president and he established a one-party state .
Modibo Keïta regime was overthrown in a bloodless military coup led by Moussa Traore, a day which is now commemorated as Liberation Day on Nov 19,1968.
  
March Revolution
From March 22 - 26, 1991, mass pro-democracy rallies and a nationwide strike was held in both urban and rural communities, which became known as les evenements (“the events”) or the March Revolution.Lieutenant Colonel Amadou Toumani Toure announced on the radio that he had arrested the dictatorial president, Moussa Traoré. As a consequence, opposition parties were legalized and a national congress of civil and political groups met to draft a new democratic constitution to be approved by a national referendum.

First Democratic Presidential Election 













In 1992,Alpha Oumar Konare won Mali's first democratic multiparty presidential election. Upon his reelection in 1997, President Konaré pushed through political and economic reforms and fought corruption.

Amadou Toumani Toure Rule











In 2002, he was succeeded in democratic elections by Amadou Toumani Toure , a retired general, who had been the leader of the military aspect of the 1991 democratic uprising .








Government
Mali is a Presidential  Representative Democratic Republic where the President is Head of State and Prime Minister appointed by President is Head of Govt.and of a Multi-party system
Executive Power is exercised by the government.
Legislative Power is vested in both the Govt. and the National Assembly.
The Judiciary  is independent of the executive and the legislature.
The president is elected to 5-year terms by direct popular vote. He is limited to two terms.
National Assembly has 160 members, elected for a five year term, 147 members elected in single-seat constituencies and 13 members elected by Malians abroad.




Mali soldiers say President Toppled in Coup

Mutinying Malian soldiers say they have ended the rule of President Amadou Toumani Toure after claiming to have seized control of the presidential palace and the state television station in the West African nation.
In a statement read out on Malian state television on Thursday March 22,2012 by a spokesman for the soldiers, who described themselves as the National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and State (CNRDR), the mutineers said they had dissolved institutions, suspended the constitution and imposed a curfew "until further notice".
Captain Amadou Sanogo, whose title was given as president of the newly formed CNRDR, also appeared on state television to urge calm and condemn any pillaging.


Soldiers Loot Presidential Palace After Seizing Power

Gunfire rang out in Mali's capital on Thursday as drunken soldiers looted the presidential palace after seizing power in a coup.The soldier heading the rebellion, Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo, gave an interview to Malian state television saying that Touré is "doing well and is safe". However, he refused to say where the ousted leader is being kept, and did not make clear if they are holding him.

Mali Coup Leader,Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo speaks with fellow soldiers at a military camp in Bamako

 

Mali Suspended from African Union(AU)

The African Union(AU) has suspended Mali  following Thursday's military coup, which deposed long-time President Amadou Toumani Touré.
The AU chairman, Jean Ping, told a meeting of the AU Peace and Security Council in Addis Ababa on Friday, that a high-level mission would be sent to Mali's capital Bamako to assess the situation.


Mali Coup Leader Reinstates Old Constitution

The junior officer who overthrew Mali’s democratically elected leader last month and dissolved the nation’s constitution made a public U-turn, declaring amid enormous international pressure that he was reinstating the 1992 constitution and planning to hold elections.Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo added on Sunday April 01,2012 that he would organize a national convention to agree on a transitional government which will organize free and fair elections.

 

Mali’s Tuareg Rebels Declare Independence

 

Mali’s Tuareg rebels, who have seized control of the country’s north in the chaotic aftermath of a military coup, declared independence early Friday April 06,2012 of the Azawad Nation.

“We, the people of the Azawad,” they said in a statement published on the rebel website, “proclaim the irrevocable independence of the state of the Azawad starting from this day, Friday, April 6, 2012.” 

 

 The traditionally nomadic Tuareg people have been fighting for independence for the northern half of Mali since at least 1958.The Tuaregs fought numerous rebellions, but it wasn’t until a March 21, 2012 coup in the distant capital of Bamako toppled the nation’s elected government that the fighters were able to make significant gains. In a three-day period last weekend they seized the three largest cities in the north, as soldiers dumped their uniforms and retreated.Their independence declaration cited 50 years of misrule by the country’s southern-based administration and was issued by the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad, or NMLA, whose Army is led by a Tuareg colonel who fought in the late Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi’s military.

 

Mali’s Coup Leader to Return Power

Under intense pressure from the nations bordering Mali, the junior officer(Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo) who seized control of the country in a coup last month signed an accord late on Friday April 06,2012, agreeing to return the nation to constitutional rule.Flanked by the ministers of neighbouring nations, he read out the accord, stating that under Article 36 of Mali’s constitution the head of the national assembly becomes interim president in the event of a vacancy of power. The head of the parliament will form an interim government, which will organize new elections
The announcement came only hours after separatist rebels in Mali’s distant north declared their independence.
Coup leader Capt Amadou Haya Sanogo (right) and Burkina Faso Foreign Minister Djibrill Bassole (left) sign documents as part of an accord agreeing that Sanogo will return the country to constitutional rule

 

Mali's Parliamentary Head Returns from Exile

Mali’s Parliamentary head, Dioncounda Traore who was forced into exile after last month’s coup, returned Saturday April 07,2012 to this nation in crisis, marking the first step in Mali’s path back to constitutional rule

Dioncounda Traore was by chance in neighboring Burkina Faso on March 21 when disgruntled soldiers stormed the presidential palace in Mali’s capital, ousting the nation’s democratically elected leader and overturning two decades of democracy.

Dioncouonda Traore (centre) Mali's parliamentary head who was forced into exile after last month coup, walks with Burkina Faso's Foreign Affairs Minister Djibrill Bassole (right) after arrival at the airport in Bamako, Mali on Saturday April 07,2012

 

Mali's President Resigns After Coup

 

The President of Mali, Amadou Toumani Touré, resigned on Sunday April 08,2012, and the soldiers who ousted him in a coup promised to hand power to the president of the National Assembly.

Mali Tuaregs and Islamist rebels to merge and create new state

The two rebel groups that seized control of the northern half of Mali have announced they are to fuse their movements and work together to create an independent Islamic state on the territory they occupy.

The two groups took over the north of Mali at the end of March, forcing Malian government troops to flee south. Until now, the two had been in disagreement because Ansar Dine wants to impose sharia law in the area they occupy, something the secular NMLA had been resisting.

In Timbuktu, the last major town in the north to fall to the rebels, the NMLA took over the airport, located on the outskirts of town, while Ansar Dine installed itself in the military camp at the centre of the fabled city.
The two have different rebel flags, and witnesses reported seeing one group raise its flag over an administrative building, like the governor's residence, only for the second group to show up, and replace it with their own flag.

 

Malian Islamists attack world heritage site mosques in Timbuktu

 

Five times a day for more than 15 years, Aphadi Wangara has led prayers at Sidi Yahya mosque in Timbuktu, one of three in the ancient Malian desert town. But the day after hardline Islamists attacked and damaged the 15th-century mosque, the softly spoken imam had no consoling words to offer

 

Mali PM Cheick Modibo Diarra resigns after army arrest

The PM of Mali has resigned hours after being arrested by soldiers who were behind a military coup in March.
Cheick Modibo Diarra was detained on Monday Dec 10,2012 at his home in the capital Bamako, reportedly on the orders of the coup leader, Capt Amadou Sanogo

 

 

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