Category: Africa

Regions and landscapes With an area of 1.24 million km², Mali is almost four times the size of the Federal Republic of Germany. The country stretches from the Upper Guinea threshold in the south over the Niger Basin and the Sahel zone in the center of the country to the Sahara, which takes up about…

Transport of firewood with donkey With regard to the environmental situation, the main problem that should be emphasized is the increasing threat to agricultural production bases and natural vegetation, which affects large parts of the country. The expansion of arable land that can be observed in many places, increased soil erosion, increasing overgrazing, desertification and…

Population and settlement patterns The recent population development in Mali is characterized by rapid population growth. The country’s population was 20.2 million in 2019, whereas the population in 1998 was only 9.8 million. For 2018, the annual population growth was put at 3.1% (period 2010 to 2015: 3.0%). According to estimates by the 2014 Human…

In the car through difficult terrain The inland location and the insufficiently developed transport infrastructure have a very difficult effect on the country’s development. After the outbreak of serious domestic political crises in the Ivory Coast, the 650 km long Bamako – Dakar (Senegal) railway line had become an important foreign trade route for Mali….

Significant historical epochs up to independence Mali has a long and eventful history. The Republic of Mali gave itself its name in memory of the West African empire of Mali under the Keita dynasty (heyday: 12th-14th centuries), which was founded by the Malinké and is regarded as the most important early medieval empire in West…

Military coup in March 2012 A military coup took place in March 2012. Military officials led by Captain Amadou Sanogo stormed the presidential palace, declared the government incompetent and deposed and temporarily imposed a night curfew. They also arrested some of the members of the government. However, President Touré escaped and his whereabouts remained unknown…

Subject areas Country overview & natural area The Republic of Mali is characterized by very different landscape zones and great ethnic diversity. History & State Mali can look back on a very long history marked by conflicts. Since 1991 the country has been considered a bearer of democratic hope on the African continent. However, the…

National symbols The focus of the text of the national anthem “Le Mali” is not only on building and defending the Malian nation, but also on realizing African unity. The colors of the national flag symbolize the hope (green), the gold (yellow) and the memory (red) of those who died in the struggle for national…

Given the very tense security situation in much of North and Central Mali presented the preparation and holding of presidential elections in 2018 a very significant challenge. At the two rounds of voting in July and August 2018 conducted election were 24 candidates registered (among them several former prime minister and only one woman). In…

Elections A total of eight candidates ran for the presidential election in 2007, including one woman. The presidential election campaign was dominated by the activities of various alliances and associations, the most important of which were the Alliance pour la Démocratie et le Progrès (ADP), the Mouvement Citoyen and the Front pour la Démocratie et…

In March 2012, after weeks of fighting and siege, the rebels succeeded in conquering Tessalit. With the conquest of the strategically important city and army garrison, they inflicted a heavy defeat on the army. The fighting strength of the rebels was greatly increased by the large number of Tuareg soldiers from the defeated Libyan army…

The solution to the conflict in North Mali, which has escalated again since the beginning of 2012, is of paramount importance for the future of Mali. The causes of the conflict are complex and include ethnic, political, economic and ecological factors. Before that, North Mali was last hit by a serious military conflict between 1991…

French military intervention and start of the MINUSMA mission Since January 2013, the conflict has experienced significant internationalization. After the Ansar Dine captured the central Malian city of Konna, President Traoré asked France for military support and declared a nationwide state of emergency. Shortly afterwards, French units on the side of the Malian army began…

An overview of the various conflicting parties can be found at ECFR. The joint patrols started in February 2017, the establishment of interim administrations for the five regions of the north and the return of a first army unit to Kidal in February 2020 can be regarded as cautiously hopeful signs. As part of the…

In May 2015, the CMA in Algiers gave its preliminary approval to the peace agreement. She initialed the agreement, but refused to sign it and asked for renegotiations. As a result, further talks took place in Algiers. The future balance of power in Ménaka played an important role here. Only after GATIA had withdrawn from…

Civil society Since 1991, the number of social associations, interest groups and grassroots groups in Mali has increased significantly. As early as 2004, 2058 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were officially registered in Mali, 251 of them foreign NGOs. At national and regional level there are NGO umbrella organizations such as the CCA-ONG, SECO-ONG and CAFO, which…

Human rights Until the beginning of 2012, Mali could be viewed as a state in which the state organs largely upheld human rights. As a result of the occupation of large parts of the country by Islamist rebels and the temporary escalation of the conflict in North Mali since the beginning of 2013, the human…

Mali Map In a difficult regional political environment, the Third Republic pursues a non-ideologically oriented, pragmatic foreign policy. The relations with Germany maintained within this framework can be described as good. Within the framework of these relations, Germany took part in dealing with the aftermath of the conflict in North Mali in the 1990’s and…

Agriculture Only 5.5% of the land area (value for 2014) is used for arable farming, another 25% can be used as pasture land. The country’s cultivation centers are in the southern parts of the country and along the Niger. In the south, cereals (millet, sorghum, maize), cotton and peanuts are mainly grown. Rice is primarily…

Mali Economy & Development Estimated GDP: $ 14.18 billion Per capita income (purchasing power parity): US $ 1174 Human Development Rank (HDI): 184 of 189 (2020) Proportion of poverty (less than $ 1.25 per day): 50.4% Distribution of income (Gini coefficient): 33.02 Economic Transformation (BTI): Rank 104 of 137 (2020) Economic structure and economic situation…

The mining sector has grown in importance over the past two decades. Gold mining in particular has been booming since the 1990’s. Large gold deposits were developed in the south and south-west of Mali, with foreign investors (especially from the Republic of South Africa) playing a key role. According to critics, foreign mining companies derive…

Informal sector The informal sector is particularly important in rapidly growing cities. However, he is faced with a number of serious problems. Income earned in the informal sector is often low, access to credit and means of production is severely restricted, and there is largely a lack of support strategies for this sector, which has…

Economic policy In economic policy, the government is promoting the private sector and liberalization, although this policy is not only approved but also rejected. The national budget is in deficit. Since 1988, but especially since the mid-1990’s, the Malian government has made significant efforts to stimulate the economy. The economic reform programs implemented under pressure…

According to the human development indicators of the United Nations Development Program, Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world (2020: 184th place out of 189 countries). The following figures are primarily taken from human development reports issued by the United Nations Development Program and UNICEF country reports. Topography of Mali Human development…

Mali Society Proportion of literate adults: 33.4% Major religions: Islam (approx. 90%), natural religions Urban population: 42% (2018) Life expectancy (female / male): 58/54 years (2016, estimated) Gender Inequality Index: Rank 157 of 160 (2017) Number of births: 6.01 / woman (estimated, 2017) Infant mortality: 100/1000 live births (2016, estimated) Regionalism, Ethnicity and Tribalism Due…

In Mali – as in many other African countries – women are largely disadvantaged compared to the male population. This applies both to access to education and employment as well as to the social and economic status of women. However, there are differences between the various ethnic groups. With the Bambara, the women’s sphere of…

School and vocational training The Malian population is characterized by a high proportion of young people. In 2018, 47.5% of the population were younger than 15 years, which is a major challenge for the school system in particular. Pupils at a primary school in Sikasso In the past two decades, Mali has made considerable progress…

Health care In the health care sector, Mali has a number of worrying indicators. Inadequate access to health facilities, poverty, a lack of sanitary facilities, widespread undernourishment and malnutrition as well as insufficient clean drinking water are often closely related problems, which result in an increased susceptibility of large parts of the population to serious…

Cultural identities In terms of cultural diversity, the multi-ethnic country of Mali is one of the most interesting countries in sub-Saharan Africa. There is a rich mosaic of traditions and cultural expressions in the country. In Malian society, respect for hierarchies as well as consensus and social cohesion is very important, be it in the…