Independent Mali

Political unrest and military intervention

Keita, the new country’s first president, rapidly replaced French civil servants with Africans, distanced the country from France, established close diplomatic relations and economic ties with communist-bloc countries, and built a state-run economy. In 1962 Mali issued its own nonconvertible currency, although Keita entered into monetary negotiations with the French in 1967 to prop up a sagging economy. Keita, while claiming to be nonaligned, regularly supported the communist bloc in international affairs. His radical socialist political and economic policies and a cultural revolution launched in 1967 led to widespread popular discontent, which created a favourable environment for a group of army officers to seize power. On November 19, 1968, they launched a coup that overthrew Keita and his government. Led by Lieut. Moussa Traoré, the officers formed a 14-member Military Committee of National Liberation that ruled Mali from 1969 to 1979, when a civilian government was elected. Disagreements led to the removal of two officers in 1971, and in 1978 four others, who opposed a return to civilian rule, were accused of planning a coup and were arrested; two of them later died in prison.

Traoré’s rule

In 1974 Malians overwhelmingly approved a new constitution. Under it the country returned to civilian rule in 1979, with a military-sponsored political party, the Malian People’s Democratic Union (Union Démocratique du Peuple Malien; UDPM), in control of the government and Traoré serving as head of state. When elections were held in 1979, Traoré was elected president, and he was reelected in 1985, while the UDPM—the only legal party—occupied all the seats in the National Assembly. During the 1980s Traoré gave civilians access to the government through regular local and national elections, and he also dealt effectively with protests and with a number of coup attempts.

Traoré consistently followed a pragmatic foreign policy, maintaining close relations with both France and the communist bloc. During the 1980s he made concerted efforts to improve relations with other Western countries, including the United States, which were linked to his attempts to attract foreign investments, diversify the economy, and promote a private sector. Mali had two armed conflicts with Upper Volta (renamed Burkina Faso in 1984) over a border area, in 1974–75 and again in 1985. The latter conflict took place in December 1985 and lasted five days; the territory in question was the Agacher Strip, a border region of about 1,150 square miles (3,000 square km). The matter was referred to the International Court of Justice, which in 1986 divided the territory to the satisfaction of both parties.

By 1991 movements for greater democracy had gained a foothold in Mali but were rejected by Traoré’s regime, which claimed that the country was not ready for such change. Demonstrations and riots broke out in major urban centres, leading to a military takeover in March 1991 and the imprisonment of Traoré. The new military government, led by Amadou Toumani Touré, promised a quick return to civilian rule and held a national conference attended by major associations and unions. Elections were held in 1992, and Alpha Konaré, a prominent civilian intellectual, won the presidency.

Toward a more democratic future

A new constitution and a multiparty government raised hopes of a more democratic future. President Konaré’s efforts to rebuild Mali were hampered, however, by a weak economy, drought, desertification, inefficient parastatals (agencies serving the state but not officially under government control), a bloated civil service, decreasing foreign aid, and the French government’s devaluation in 1994 of the CFA franc. In 1994–95, confrontations between security forces and students protesting these economic hardships often turned violent. The government also faced a continuing crisis caused by Tuareg rebels, who began returning to their homes in the northern part of the country from Libya and Algeria, where they had migrated in times of drought in the 1970s and ’80s. Nevertheless, Konaré was reelected in May 1997 amid charges of electoral fraud and human rights abuses. The political situation subsequently became more stable, and a fragile peace was established with the Tuareg rebels.

In 2002 Touré, the former military leader who had handed the government over to civilians in 1992, was elected president of the country on a nonpartisan platform; he was reelected in 2007. His administration was faced with continuing economic problems, some of which were partially alleviated by debt relief—particularly the significant relief granted in 2003 and 2005. Touré’s administration was also occupied with various conflicts: renewed troubles with Tuareg rebels in 2006 in the north were tenuously resolved by peace agreement that same year, and in 2007 skirmishes between Guinean and Malian villagers over land rights resulted in injury, death, and loss of property. The governments of both countries intervened, resuming a long-dormant mixed patrol along the Mali-Guinea border and encouraging the use of peaceful negotiations to reconcile the disputes.

The tenuous peace in the north did not last very long, as Tuareg rebel activity resumed in 2007. Another problem in the northern region was the presence of an Algerian-based militant group, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghrib (AQIM), that had become active in Mali and other nearby countries. Tuareg rebel activity surged in 2012 after many of the Tuareg rebels who had traveled to Libya to fight for Muammar al-Qaddafi in that country’s 2011 revolt returned to Mali, well-armed from their time in combat. Malian troops complained that they did not have the necessary resources and weapons to curtail the Tuareg rebels, who successfully routed the Malian forces out of several northern towns and caused many civilians to flee the area.