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General (ret.) Amadou Toumani
Touré (born November 4, 1948 in Mopti, Mali[1])
is the president of
Mali. He overthrew a military
ruler, Moussa
Traoré in 1991, then handed power to civilian authorities the
next year. He won the presidential elections
in 2002, with a broad coalition of support and was easily re-elected in
2007.
Biography
Amadou Toumani Touré was born on 4 November 1948, in Mopti,
where he attended primary school. Between 1966 and 1969, he
attended Badalabougou Standard Secondary School in Bamako in order to become a teacher. Eventually, he joined
the army and attended the Kati Inter-Military College. As a member of
the Parachute Corps, he rose quickly through the ranks and after
numerous training courses in the Soviet Union and France, he became the commander of the parachute commandos in
1984.
In March 1991, after public demonstrations were violently
quelled, he participated in a coup d'etat against
Moussa Traoré and became leader of the Transitional Committee for
the Welfare of the People, and performed the functions of the head
of state during the transitional period towards democracy. He
organized the national conference (between 29 July and 12 August
1991) which drew up the Constitution of Mali and the
legislative and presidential elections in 1992. When the results of
the election became known he relinquished power to the newly
elected president, Alpha Oumar Konaré. Because of this,
he gained the nickname "The Soldier of Democracy."[2]
In June 2001, he became the special envoy of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to the Central African Republic after
the failed coup attempt there.
In September 2001 he asked for and was granted his expected
retirement from the army. He decided to restart his political
career by becoming a candidate in the upcoming presidential
election. He was elected President of Mali in the 2002 presidential
election. In the first round, he placed first with 28.71% of
the vote,[3] while
in the second round he won 64.35% of the vote, defeating the ADEMA
candidate, former cabinet minister Soumaila Cissé, who
obtained 35.65% of the vote. Touré was sworn in on June 8,
2002.
His presidency has been rather atypical; he is not a member of
any political party and his government has members from all of the
political parties in the country. Following his 2002 election, he
appointed Ahmed Mohamed ag Hamani to the
post of Prime Minister. On April 28, 2004, he was replaced by Ousmane Issoufi Maiga. On September 28,
2007 he was replaced by Modibo Sidibé.
He founded a children's foundation named Fondation pour
l'enfance - a name shared with a similar organization, created by
former French first-lady Danielle Mitterrand. President
Toure now runs his foundation by the proxy of his wife, first lady
Toure Lobbo Traore.
Touré announced on March 27, 2007 that he would run for a second
term in the April 2007 presidential
election.[1]
According to final results announced on May 12, Touré won the
election with 71.20% of the votes. The main opposition candidate,
National Assembly President Ibrahima
Boubacar Keïta, won 19.15%;[4]
the Front for Democracy
and the Republic, a coalition including Keïta and three other
candidates, rejected the official results.[5] Foreign
observers, however, endorsed the election as free and fair.[6] Touré
was sworn in for his second term as President on June 8, 2007, at a
ceremony attended by seven other African presidents.[7]
References
- ^ a
b
"Malian President announces
his candidacy for next elections", African Press Agency, March
27, 2007.
- ^
Country profile:
Mali
- ^
"1er tour de l'élection
présidentielle au Mali : Verdict de la Cour
Constitutionnelle", L'Essor, May 9, 2002 (French).
- ^ "Présidentielle au Mali: la
Cour constitutionnelle valide la réélection de Touré", AFP
(Jeuneafrique.com), May 12, 2007 (French).
- ^
"Mali: l'opposition conteste
la présidentielle sans attendre les résultats", AFP
(Jeuneafrique.com), May 1, 2007 (French).
- ^
Nick Tattersall, "Toure camp claims election
win", Reuters (IOL), May 1, 2007.
- ^
"Re-elected Malian president
sworn-in, 7 peers attend ceremony", African Press Agency, June
8, 2007.
- This article is based on a translation of the corresponding
article from the French Wikipedia, retrieved on 12 April
2005.
See also