Toure, Amadou Tumani

Initially sought to become a teacher, but then joined the army and after training in the USSR (at the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School ) and France , in 1984 became the commander of paratroopers in Mali. After the military government of Musa Traore brutally suppressed popular protests in 1991, Toure led a military coup. Having come to power as the head of the “Provisional Committee for the Protection of the Health of the People”, he organized the National Conference, which drafted the new constitution of Mali. After the presidential and parliamentary elections, he transferred power to the new president, Alpha Umar Konara .

Since June 2001, Kofi Annan’s special envoy to the CAR after an attempted coup d'etat in this country.

In September 2001, he resigned and became a candidate in the presidential election. In 2002, he won the first round of voting, gaining 64.35% of the vote, while his main rival Sumaila Cisse only 35.65%, and again became head of state instead of Konare, and was re-elected in 2007.

Non-partisan; in his government were representatives of all political parties of the country. The organizer of the fund to help children.

The main areas of activity of the Toure government were the social sphere and the improvement of infrastructure. Over the 10 years of Toure’s presidency, 12 thousand units of social housing were built, free treatment programs for a number of diseases were introduced, for example, malaria in children and pregnant women, they began to do cesarean section, etc. Working conditions were improved: the minimum wage and pensions were increased. Despite the progress, however, it was not possible to turn the tide. Education costs were increased, but all the improvements affected mostly the urban population, which in Mali was only about a third of the total population of the country, and for the main part of school-age children (and especially girls) nothing has changed ^[1] .

In the economy, the government was primarily engaged in agriculture. The government attached great importance to irrigation; over the years of the presidency of Toure, more than 200 thousand hectares of farmland were fully or partially provided with water. In 2008, a program to stimulate rice production was launched in Mali, subsidizing production and aimed at creating jobs for the poorest people ^[1] .

Despite the achievements, the popularity of the Toure government in the last years of rule has fallen significantly, as the general standard of living has remained low. In addition, the government was shocked by corruption scandals. The Tuareg uprising, which began in 2011, was unsuccessful for the government army. Personally, Toure was accused of insufficient efforts to fight the uprising ^[1] .

On March 21, 2012, a coup d'etat took place in the country, organized by a group of military men who were unhappy with the reaction of the authorities to the armed uprising of the Tuareg tribes in northern Mali. On March 22, 2012, the military announced the seizure of power and its transfer to the National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and the Renaissance of Mali, which they created, the dissolution of the government, the suspension of the constitution and the establishment of curfews ^[2] . They also announced their readiness to transfer power to the new democratically elected president.

On April 8, 2012, he officially announced his resignation as head of state within the framework of the agreement to resolve the crisis in Mali between representatives of the military junta and mediator from the Economic Community of West African Countries ( ECOWAS ), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Burkina Faso D. Bassole ^[3] .

After the overthrow, he lived with his family in the capital of Senegal, Dakar. He returned to his homeland only in December 2017 ^[1] .

• "In the West African state of Mali, army units rebelling against the current government seized the presidential palace in the capital, the city of Bamako." (Unavailable link) (Russian)
• "The rebellion in Mali: the military announced the closure of borders and airspace" (rus.)