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Mali, officially the Republic of Mali is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali is the eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of just over 1,240,000 square kilometres (480,000 sq mi). The population of Mali is 19.1 million. 67% of its population was estimated to be under the age of 25 in 2017. Its capital is Bamako. The sovereign state of Mali consists of eight regions and its borders on the north reach deep into the middle of the Sahara Desert, while the country's southern part, where the majority of inhabitants live, features the Niger and Senegal rivers. The country's economy centers on agriculture and mining. Some of Mali's prominent natural resources include gold, being the third largest producer of gold in the African continent, and salt.
The military of the Republic of Mali consists of the Army, Republic of Mali Air Force, and National Guard. They number some 7,000 and are under the control of the Minister of Armed Forces and Veterans. The Library of Congress as of January 2005 stated that "[t]he military is underpaid, poorly equipped, and in need of rationalization. Its organisation has suffered from the incorporation of Tuareg irregular forces into the regular military following a 1992 agreement between the government and Tuareg rebel forces."
Moussa Traoré is a Malian soldier and politician who was President of Mali from 1968 to 1991. As a Lieutenant, he led the military ousting of President Modibo Keïta in 1968. Thereafter he served as head of state until March 1991, when he was overthrown by popular protests and a military coup. He was twice condemned to death in the 1990s, but eventually pardoned on both occasions and freed in 2002. He has since retired from political life.
Bògòlanfini or bogolan is a handmade Malian cotton fabric traditionally dyed with fermented mud. It has an important place in traditional Malian culture and has, more recently, become a symbol of Malian cultural identity. The cloth is exported worldwide for use in fashion, fine art and decoration.
Stade Malien is a Malian football and sports club based in Bamako. One of the two dominant clubs of Malian football, their eastern Bamako training grounds host other sports as well, including a successful basketball club.
Mali-United States relations, while historically friendly, were radically altered by the March 2012 military coup in Mali that ousted the previous democratic government. The Mali government was a strong partner with the U.S. in its efforts to combat violent extremists, but the United States officially suspended military relations with Mali following the military coup.
Education in Mali is considered a fundamental right of Malians. For most of Mali's history, the government split primary education into two cycles which allowed Malian students to take examinations to gain admission to secondary, tertiary, or higher education. Mali has recently seen large increases in school enrollment due to educational reforms.
The culture of Mali derives from the shared experience, as a colonial and post-colonial polity, and the interaction of the numerous cultures which make up the Malian people. What is today the nation of Mali was united first in the medieval period as the Mali Empire. While the current state does not include areas in the southwest, and is expanded far to the east and northeast, the dominant roles of the Mandé peoples is shared by the modern Mali, and the empire from which its name originates from.
The status and social roles of women in Mali have been formed by the complex interplay of a variety of traditions in ethnic communities, the rise and fall of the great Sahelien states, French colonial rule, independence, urbanisation, and postcolonial conflict and progress. Forming just less than half Mali's population, Malian women have sometimes been the center of matrilineal societies, but have always been crucial to the economic and social structure of this largely rural, agricultural society.
Malian Americans are people with ancestry originating in Mali. According to the US Census Bureau ancestry survey, approximately 1,800 Americans stated they had Malian ancestry, making them Malian Americans. The survey did not take into account illegal immigrants or people who did not participate in the survey, which could mean that many more uncounted Malians live throughout the United States.
Mali is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and, to a lesser extent, forced prostitution. Within Mali, women and girls are forced into domestic servitude and, to a limited extent, prostitution. Malian boys are found in conditions of forced begging and forced labor in gold mines and agricultural settings both within Mali and neighboring countries. Reports indicate that Malian children are trafficked to Senegal and Guinea for forced labor in gold mines and for forced labor on cotton and cocoa farms in Côte d'Ivoire. Boys from Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger and other countries are forced into begging and exploited for labor by religious instructors within Mali and across borders. Adult men and boys, primarily of Songhai ethnicity, are subjected to the longstanding practice of debt bondage in the salt mines of Taoudenni in northern Mali. Some members of Mali's black Tamachek community are subjected to traditional slavery-related practices rooted in hereditary master-slave relationships.
Malian passports are issued to Malian citizens to travel outside Mali. It is the only proof for international travel. It can also be used in identification for a national registration card or driver's license. It is also the primary proof for citizenship.
The Tuareg Rebellion of 2012 was an early stage of the Northern Mali conflict; from January to April 2012, a war was waged against the Malian government by rebels with the goal of attaining independence for the northern region of Mali, known as Azawad. It was led by the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and was part of a series of insurgencies by traditionally nomadic Tuaregs which date back at least to 1916. The MNLA was formed by former insurgents and a significant number of heavily armed Tuaregs who fought in the Libyan Civil War.
The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad or the Azawad National Liberation Movement, formerly the National Movement of Azawad, is a political and military organisation based in Azawad in northern Mali.
The Mali War, Northern Mali Conflict or Mali Civil War refers to armed conflicts that started from January 2012 between the northern and southern parts of Mali in Africa. On 16 January 2012, several insurgent groups began fighting a campaign against the Malian government for independence or greater autonomy for northern Mali, an area of northern Mali they called Azawad. The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), an organization fighting to make this area of Mali an independent homeland for the Tuareg people, had taken control of the region by April 2012.
The Internal conflict in Azawad has been a two-year-long insurgency in Northern Mali between a pro-independence ultra Nationalist group, the MNLA and a coalition of Islamists terror groups. The conflict began when Northern Mali declared itself independent from the government creating the un-recognized state of Azawad. Both the Islamists and MNLA formed an alliance in combatting the Malian government. An internal conflict sprung up over the imposing of sharia law in the new state and the MNLA distancing itself from the coalition to a democratic state. Islamists gained popularity amongst anti-Tuareg tribes that helped it overthrow MNLA authority in Gao. Both sides clashed repeatedly leading to the Battle of Gao where the MNLA were driven from the North's two main cities, Gao and Timbuktu. The MNLA soon lost all of its strongholds in the North in a matter of months. They went into hiding secretly gaining support and strength. The beginning of 2013 led the start of the French intervention in Mali that ousted the Islamists from the North's cities and brought back Malian authority. The MNLA supported the French and Chadian forces in military operations against Islamists sanctuaries in the mountains. The MNLA recaptured several important towns in the Kidal Region but refused to dis-arm or hand them over to the Malian government. A series of Islamists sponsored terror attacks plagued MNLA forces for siding with the French. Checkpoints and bases were targeted with suicide bombings that targeted MNLA members. A peace deal was reached with the Malian army in June that let the army transverse freely in MNLA occupied zones that were under Malian jurisdiction. Ethnic violence sprung over the murder of a Tuareg Government officers family. The MNLA responded by harassing and murdering Fulani civilians who create a majority of Islamists rebels. The Islamists stepped up their attacks in one such instance massacring 30 Tuareg merchants. The MNLA has since been battling Islamists.
Fatimata Touré is a women's rights activist and the head of the Regional Forum on Reconciliation and Peace in Gao, Mali. She is also the head of Women’s Action, Research, Study and Training Group, which works against fistula.
On 18 January 2017, a suicide bomber drove a vehicle filled with explosives into a military camp near Gao, Mali, killing 77 people and injuring at least 115. The incident is the deadliest terrorist attack in Malian history.
On March 23, 2019, several attacks by gunmen killed a reported 160 Fulani herders in central Mali. The violence came in the aftermath of the Malian government cracking down on Islamic terror cells in the country. Two villages, Ogossagou and Welingara, were particularly affected.
References
- ↑ "Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments: Mali". Central Intelligence Agency. September 6, 2016. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
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