MAll Country correspondent: Eloi Diarra; Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, University of Rauen, France; holder of the Cames agn!Jgation and teaches at the Universities of Bamako and Dakar ( 1) BASIC FACTS Independence: 20 June 1960 as part of Mali Federation, comprising Senegal and Mali (formerly French Sudan). Became independent as a separate state on 22 September 1960 ·-· Leader: Alpha Oumar Konare, born 1946, president since April 1992 Capital: Bamako (main river port and international airport) Other major cities: Segu, Mopti, Sikasso, Kayes Area: 1 240 142 km2 Population: 11 ,4 mn (2000) Population growth: 3,1% Urbanisation: 33% (2000) Languages: French (official), Dogan, Fulani, Gur-Senufo, Songhai, Mande-Malinke-Burubura, Soninke, Berber-Taureg HDI rank: 1 53 ( 1999) Life expectancy at birth: 51 years ( 1 999) Adult literacy rate: 40% (1999) Gross enrolment ratio (all educational levels): 28% ( 1999) GNP: $2.4 bn GNP/capita: $250 (1995) GDP (average annual growth rate): 1,8% (1990-95) Foreign debt: $3 066 mn (1995); as %of GNP: 127% Development aid: $542 mn (1995); as %of GNP: 30% Currency: CFA franc 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 from 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 that continued until 1998. Konare was returned to office in the 1997 presidential election and the alliance supporting him (Adema) won an overwhelming victory at the subsequent National Assembly elections. (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 Yelimane (northeast of today's Kayes) and remains of Homo Sapiens (40 000 BC), found between Gao and Timbuktu. 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 Guinea. The Empire was known for its gold from Bambouck and Boure. This empire was succeeded by the Sasso Empire, which in turn was 1276 MALl succeeded by the empire of Mali in the 1 2th 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, southern Mauritania, western Guinea, and overflowed into the Niger of today. For shorter periods, covering the same territory, other empires succeeded. This included the Gao (the Sonrha"i Empire in the 15th and 16th centuries); the kingdom of Kaarta 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 Medine 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, Gallieni, Archinard, and Dads. The land thus conquered was successfully called Senegambia and Niger ( 1902) and the Upper-Senegal­ Niger Colony (1904) before the name French Sudan was adopted in 1930. The Democratic African Rally, le Rassemblement Democratique 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 fist to explicitly demand independence. The blueprint law, also called law Gaston Defferre, adopted on 23 June 1956, offered 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 West Africa (AOF - Afrique Occidentale Francaise), 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. Senegal's turn-to opt for a republic came on 25 November 1958. It would also associate with the Community while proclaiming its willingness to form a union with other African states. On 17 January 1959, the Republic of Sudan and the Republic of Senegal formed the Federation of Mali. On 20 June 1960 France granted it independence. On the night of 19 to 20 August 1960 the Federation shattered, and on 22 September 1960 the former Sudan proclaimed its independence from the Federation of Mali and set itself up as the Republic of Mali. Independence 1960-1968: The country was governed by Modibo Keita and his party, the Democratic African Rally - Sudanese Union (US-RDA - Union soudaniase - Rassemblement Democratique Africain). They made no secret of their preference for a socialist approach, copying the Maoist course of socialism. On 1 May 1966, the National Committee to Defend the Revolution (CNDR - Comite National de Defense de Ia Revolution), aided by local committees, was created. The national political bureau of the US-RDA was disbanded on 22 August 1967. The revolution became very active; businesses and commerce were nationalised, the private sector became non-existent. On 16 January 1968, the National Assembly disbanded itself and gave legislative authority to 28 of its members. Individual liberties were not respected. The military instigated a coup and took power on 19 November 1968. They promised respect for individual, political and economical freedom and were welcomed as liberators. Between this date and 1975, a Military Commission of National Liberation (CMLN - Comite Militaire de 1277 .