Mali in 2008

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Mali in 2008

Area: 1,248,574 sq km (482,077 sq mi)
Population (2008 est.): 12,324,000
Capital: Bamako
Chief of state: President Amadou Toumani Touré
Head of government: Prime Minister Modibo Sidibé

Efforts to resolve the ongoing Tuareg rebellion in the deserts of northern Mali met with mixed success in 2008. On March 7, Tuaregs led by Ibrahim Ag Bahanga released the last 22 hostages captured in August 2007. Two weeks later Tuaregs attacked a military convoy, taking at least 30 soldiers hostage and capturing eight vehicles. Libyan mediators intervened, and on April 4 a cease-fire was signed. The rebels agreed to release the hostages in return for a reduction in the number of Malian troops stationed in the area. On May 21 the truce was broken when rebels attacked an army post in Abeibara, just south of the Algerian border. Seventeen rebels and 10 soldiers were killed in the daylong fighting, with at least 30 others wounded. Each side accused the other of breaking the April 4 pact. Intense negotiations brokered by Libya resulted in the release on September 9 of 44 soldiers. The government freed all of its rebel prisoners in the hope that a lasting peace treaty would be reached. The conflict in the north led to a vast increase in the illegal-weapons trade.

On January 3 a two-hour gunfight between customs officers and smugglers resulted in the seizure of 750 kg (1,650 lb) of cocaine. In June the High Islamic Council of Mali expressed strong opposition to a pending parliamentary bill abolishing the death penalty, stating that such a law was against Islamic principles.

Secondary-school teachers struck for seven months, refusing to grade any examinations. This left the prospect of a school year for which no credit would be awarded, although students continued to prepare to take the June baccalaureate. On July 10, as the Group of Eight meeting in Japan ended, the seventh annual People’s Forum closed in Bamako, issuing a proclamation demanding the end of privatization in Mali and an end to government corruption.

Nancy Ellen Lawler