By Eloi Diarra, senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the University of Rouen, France. He is professor and holder of the agrégation at Cames and teaches at the Universities of Bamako and Dakar

(1) BASIC FACTS i

Independence: 20 June 1960 as part of , comprising of and Mali (formerly French ). Became independent as a separate state on 22 September 1960 Leader: Alpha Oumar Konare, b 1946, president since April 1992 Capital: Bamako (main river port and international airport) Other major cities: Segu, , Sikasso, Kayes Area: 1 240 142 km22 Population: 1 1 ,4 mn ( 1995-2000) Population growth: 3,1 % Urbanization: 33 % ( 1995-2000) Languages: French (official), Dogon, Fulani, Gur-Senufo, Songhai, Mande-Malinke-Burubura, Soninke, Berber-Taureg NDl rank: 171 (1997) Life expectancy at birth: 47 years (1994) Adult literacy rate: 31 % (1995) Gross enrolment ratio (all educational levels): primary 25 %, secondary 7 %, tertiary 1 % (1992) GNP $2 410 mn GNPlcapita: $250 (1995) GDP (average annual growth rates: 1 ,8 % (1 990-95) Foreign debt: $3 066 mn (1995); as % of GNP: 127 % Development aid: $542 mn (1995); as % of GNP: 30 % Form of government: Democratic republic (article 25 of the Constitution) Highest court dealing with constitutional matters: Constitutional Court (Cour constitutionnelle), PO Box E213, Bamako. Tel 225632/234238/234239; Fax 234241 (President: Mr Abdoulaye Dicko) Supreme Court (Cour supreme), PO Box 07, Bamako. Tel 222406 (President: Mr M'Barakou Askia) Government institutions dealing with human rights: National Consultative Commission of Human Rights, reporting to the prime minister, Koulouba, PO Box 10, Bamako. Tel 225986/222572; Fax 227050 National Commission for the Study of International Adoption and the Fight Against Child Trafficking, reporting to the Minister of Justice The Democratic Questioning Area (EID - L'Espace d'lnterpellation Democratique) Ministry of Justice, PO Box 97, Bamako. Tel 222436/224657; Fax 231796 Legal tradition: Legal tradition of French origin. Traditional law is not documented and not integrated in the prescribed laws and acts. Traces of Muslim law are found in the law of persons (eg marriage). Dominant religions: Animism or traditional religion is prevalent in daily behaviour. Islam, since the 10th century. Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism) since the 19th century. Legal training provided at: Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA) , PO Box 276, Bamako. Tel 222719 Facult6 des sciences juridiques et economiques, PO Box 276, Bamako. Tel 222719/238424; Fax 232895

Comments: A large landlocked country of which the greater part falls within the Sahara Desert. Lack of infrastructure is a severe constraint on the exploitation of minerals, though gold mining has commenced in recent years. President Moussa Traore, in office since 1968, was deposed in a military coup in 1991. The new military rulers allowed political parties and restored civilian rule through multi-party elections in 1992. The African Party for Solidarity and Justice (Adema) won an overall majority of seats and its leader, Alpha Konare, won the presidential election. From 1990 there was political unrest among the Tuareg (Berber) populations, but a settlement was reached in April 1995. Konare was returned to office in the most recent elections, held in April-June 1997, but the results of the legislative elections were annulled owing to irregularities.

(2) COUNTRY REPORT

Historical background

Pre-colonial period: The presence of pre-hominoid in pre-historic times (Paleolithic), is proven by the discovery of bifaces in the lake basins of Y61iman6 (northeast of today's Kayes) and remains of Homo Sapiens (40 000 BC), found between Gao and .

Between the 8th and 19th centuries, big empires came into existence in this territory. The empire of Ghana, between the Senegal and Niger rivers, covered the whole of western Mali, a big part of Senegal, Mauritania and . The Empire was known for its gold from Bambouck and Boure. This empire was succeeded by the Sosso Empire, which in turn was succeeded by the empire of Mali in the 12th century. Mali, under the rule of one of its greatest kings, Kankou Moussa (1312-1337), covered an area consisting of almost the entire current-day Mali, Senegal, the whole of southern Mauritania, the whole of western Guinea, and overflowed into the Niger of today. For shorter periods, covering the same territory, other empires succeeded. This included the Gao (the Sonrhai Empire in the 15th and 16th centuries); the kingdom of in the valley north of the Senegal river; the Bambara kingdom of Segou in the Niger river basin, from Bamako to Timbuktu, in the 17th and 18th centuries; and the Toucouleur Empire of Macina, with Sekou Ahmadou, which stretched from Timbuktu to Kayes and from Nema in Mauritania to the edge of Sikasso. The last kingdom, of Samory Toure, originated at the sources of the Senegal and Niger rivers in Guinea and reached Kankan in Guinea, Odienne in the Ivory Coast and the borders of Liberia. These kingdoms and empires caused populations to intermingle and taught them a certain common desire to live together and an experience of state-organisation.

Colonial period: French colonisation started in 1857 (with the battle of Médine on the Senegal River between El Hadj Omar and Faidherbe) and was achieved in 1898, with the capture of Gao. The conquerors were Borgnis, Desbordes, Galli6ni, Archinard, and Dods. The land thus conquered was successfully called and Niger (1902) and the Upper-Senegal- Niger Colony (1904) before the name was adopted in 1930.

The Democratic African Union, le Rassemblement Democratipue Africain, was founded on 18 October 1946 at Bamako, by Houphouet-Boigny, Sejkou Toure, Mamadou Konate, and representatives of Niger, of the Upper-Volta and even French equatorial Africa. This pan- African party was the first to explicitly require independence. The blueprint-law, also called Gaston Defferre law, adopted on 23 June 1956, provided for some autonomy to the territories. Sudan could thus, by way of universal suffrage, elect a Territorial Assembly. This assembly would be authorised to deliberate over public domain as well as financial questions. The constitutional referendum of 28 September 1956 offered the possibility to territories of French (AOF - Afrigue Occidentale Francaisel, to be independent and to enter into free association with France within the framework of the French Community. Sudan thus opted for the status of republic on 24 November 1958, a republic that could federate with other African state members of the Community.