Mali
The Sudanese Republic and Senegal became independent of France in 1960 as the Mali Federation. When Senegal withdrew after only a few months, the Sudanese Republic was renamed Mali. Rule by dictatorship was brought to a close in 1991 with a transitional government, and in 1992 when Mali's first democratic presidential election was held. Alpha Konare won the polls, and was re-elected in 1997.
Amadou Toumani Toure, known for overthrowing Mali's military dictatorship and handing power back to the Malian people, won presidential elections in May 2002. Toure first came to power in 1991, deposing military ruler Moussa Traore after his security forces killed over 100 pro-democracy demonstrators. Toure gained widespread respect for handing power to elected civilians the next year.
Toure, also known popularly by his initials "ATT", has no official party but went into the first round of the elections with the backing of numerous support groups and 22 minor parties.
Banditry, carjackings and abductions have plagued Mali's northern regions and the Mauritanian border. There is a significant risk of kidnapping for ransom in the area. Kidnappers may be local criminals looking only for cash, or Islamic militants seeking political leverage as well as cash. The U.S. fears that Islamic militants could be recruiting new supporters in the thinly policed region.
In 2003, members of an Algerian Islamist rebel group (the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, or GSPC, allied with al-Qaeda) captured 32 European trekkers in southern Algeria, where they were traveling through the desert without guides. After the Algerian army freed 17 hostages, the abductors took the remaining group to Mali, as international efforts to secure their release gathered momentum. The remaining hostages (barring one who died of heatstroke) spent a total of nearly five months as hostages in the Sahara desert. German state television reported in August 2003 that Germany had paid a ransom of 4.6 million euros to the hostage-takers. A Malian government spokesman declared that his country would neither give asylum to the kidnappers nor fight them on its territory. He added, "All we ask is that they do not do anything hostile to the local population."
In late 2004, an army raid at the northern town of Kidal freed two Qatari hostages, kidnapped nine days before, near the Mali-Mauritania border. Soldiers captured five of the kidnappers and killed two, according to military officers; they were all natives of the far northern Timbuktu area. The hostages, who worked for the Qatari royal family, were not harmed. Before fleeing with the hostages, the kidnappers left a telephone number for negotiations on a ransom of about US$300,000.
In July 2005, there were clashes between Algerian forces and members of the GSPC in the desert of northern Mali. The clash took place north of the desert town of Tessalit, close to the Algerian border. At least people were killed, and an army helicopter was damaged, possibly shot down.
There have been several carjackings, robberies and murders in the Gao, Kidal and Tombouctou regions involving foreign tourists.
In the early 1990s the army was sent to the north to quell a rebellion by Tuareg tribes over land, cultural and linguistic rights. Mali's populace remains relatively peaceful since. As in other countries in the region, there are localized clashes over land rights between nomads and farmers, but these seldom lead to wider unrest.
Demonstrations occur from time to time in Bamako, but these are usually peaceful. One common issue during such protests is the high price of utilities.
