Portal:Mali

Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the eighth-largest country in Africa and the 23rd largest country in the world, with an area of 1,240,192 square kilometres (478,841 sq mi). It is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east by Niger, to the northwest by Mauritania, to the south by Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast, and to the west by Guinea and Senegal. The population is about 25.20 million, 47.19% of which are estimated to be under age 15 in 2024. Its capital and largest city is Bamako. French was the official language until 2022, when its official status was revoked to working language.

Mali's northern borders reach deep into the middle of the Sahara Desert. Southern Mali, where the majority of inhabitants live, is in the Sudanian savanna and has the Niger and Senegal rivers running through it. The economy centres on agriculture and mining with its most prominent natural resources including gold (which represents 80% of its exports) and cotton. Mali is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world.

Mali was part of three successive powerful and wealthy West African empires that controlled trans-Saharan trade: the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire, and the Songhai Empire. At its peak in 1300, the Mali Empire was the wealthiest country in Africa with Emperor Mansa Musa believed to be one of the wealthiest individuals in history. Besides being a hub of trade and mining, medieval Mali was a centre of Islam, culture and knowledge, with Timbuktu becoming a renowned place of education. The Songhai Empire absorbed the Mali Empire in 1468, followed by a Saadian army which defeated the Songhai in 1591.

In the late 19th century, during the Scramble for Africa, France seized control of Mali, making it a part of French Sudan; as the Sudanese Republic, a brief federation with Senegal was formed, achieving independence in 1960. After Senegal's withdrawal, the Republic of Mali was established. After a long period of one-party rule, a coup in 1991 led to a new constitution and the establishment of Mali as a democratic, multi-party state. From this, Mali experienced economic growth and increased civil liberties, though this began to reverse after 2012. Since independence, there have been four rebellions involving Tuareg people, which occurred from 1962 to 1964, 1990 to 1995, 2007 to 2009, and since 2012.

In January 2012, an armed conflict broke out in northern Mali, in which Tuareg rebels took control of territory in the north, and in April declared the secession of a new state, Azawad. The conflict was complicated by a military coup in March 2012 and later fighting between Tuareg and other rebel factions. In response to territorial gains, the French military launched Operation Serval in January 2013. A month later, Malian and French forces partially recaptured the north, though the conflict continued.

Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta was elected president in 2013, but allegations of fraud during the 2020 parliamentary election led to mass protests. Keïta was removed in a coup led by Assimi Goita, who established himself as the military ruler of Mali after another coup in 2021. In 2025, all political parties were dissolved, and Goita was granted a five-year presidential term, renewable without elections. The Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) imposed a fuel blockade on major cities, causing economic disruption and in 2026 launched a joint offensive with Tuareg separatists. (Full article...)

Touré in 2010

Amadou Toumani Touré (4 November 1948 – 9 November 2020), also popularly known by his initials ATT (French pronunciation: [atete]), was a Malian politician and military officer who served as Mali's head of state twice, from 1991 to 1992 as acting president and again as a democratically elected president from 2002 until he was deposed in a coup in 2012.

Touré was head of President Moussa Traoré's personal guard (and parachute regiment) when a popular revolution and a coup overthrew the regime in March 1991. Touré then arrested Traoré and led the revolution onward. He presided over a year-long military-civilian transition process that produced a new Constitution and multiparty elections, then handed power to Mali's first democratically elected president, Alpha Oumar Konaré, on 8 June 1992. Konaré promoted Touré to the rank of General. (Full article...)