Amadou Toumani Touré

Early life

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.

Political and military career

In March 1991, after the violent suppression of anti-government demonstrations turned into a popular revolution against 23 years of military rule, the armed forces refused to fire any longer on the Malian people and Touré - head of the presidential guard - arrested President Moussa Traoré. Known universally by his initials ATT, Colonel Touré (as he then was) became leader of the Transitional Committee for the Welfare of the People and acting head of state throughout the committee's efforts to transition the country's government to democracy. He presided over the national conference that between 29 July and 13 August 1991 drew up the Constitution of Mali and scheduled the legislative and presidential elections of 1992. After the results of the elections became known, Touré handed over power to the newly elected president, Alpha Oumar Konaré. Following his voluntary departure from office, he gained the nickname "The Soldier of Democracy."

In June 2001, Touré served briefly as a special envoy of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to the Central African Republic, after the failed coup attempt that had occurred there.

In September 2001, he requested and was granted retirement from the military, entering politics as a candidate in the 2002 presidential election. In the first round of voting, he placed first with 28.71% of the vote, while in the second round he won 64.35% of the vote, defeating the ADEMA candidate, former cabinet minister Soumaïla Cissé, who obtained 35.65%. Touré was sworn in on 8 June 2002.

His presidency has been viewed by some observers as atypical, in part due to the fact that he is not a member of any political party and that he has included members from all of the country's political parties in his government. Following his 2002 election, he appointed Ahmed Mohamed ag Hamani as Prime Minister, but on 28 April 2004, Hamani he was replaced by Ousmane Issoufi Maiga, who in turn was replaced on 28 September 2007 by Modibo Sidibé.

Before he entered electoral politics, Touré also founded a children's foundation named Fondation pour l'enfance – a name shared with a similar organization created by Danielle Mitterrand, the wife of French president François Mitterrand. During Touré's presidency, the foundation was managed by First Lady Toure Lobbo Traore, serving as Touré's proxy.

Touré announced on 27 March 2007, that he would run for a second term in the April 2007 presidential election. According to final results announced on 12 May, Touré won the election with 71.20% of the votes. The main opposition candidate, National Assembly President Ibrahima Boubacar Keïta, won 19.15%; the Front for Democracy and the Republic, a coalition including Keïta and three other candidates, rejected the official results. Foreign observers, however, endorsed the election as free and fair. Touré was sworn in for his second term as President on 8 June 2007, at a ceremony attended by seven other African presidents.

Conforming to the constitution of Mali, which has a two-term presidential limit, Touré confirmed at a press conference on 12 June 2011, that he would not stand in the 2012 presidential election.

2012 coup d'état

Early in 2012, elements of the Malian military protested the Touré government's handling of the 2012 insurgency in northern Mali. The brutal massacre in Aguel Hoc (frontier with Niger) of more than 80 Malian soldiers led to unrest in the army, with soldiers and army wives accusing President Touré of mismanagement because of ammunition shortages. On 21 March, soldiers at a barracks in Kati, near Bamako, launched a revolt against the visiting defense minister, and their revolt turned into a coup d'État. A group of sergeants and corporals seized several locations in Bamako, including the presidential palace, state television headquarters, and some military barracks. They then formed a provisional governmental authority, the National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and State (CNRDRE), under the leadership of Captain Amadou Sanogo, and declared that they had overthrown Touré, accusing his government of incompetence. President Touré was not taken into custody by the rebels.

For more than two weeks Touré's whereabouts were unknown and CNRDRE never indicated that he was in its custody. The CNRDRE did, however, state that Touré was in "good health" and a statement from the Nigerian government, though supportive of Touré, claimed that he had been "detained" by the mutineers. According to soldiers loyal to Touré, however, he was safe, and guarded by pro-government military forces at a barracks somewhere outside of Bamako.

On 3 April, the junta announced that it was considering charges of treason and financial misconduct against Touré.

On 8 April, Touré reemerged to announce his resignation in accordance with an agreement brokered by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to return Mali to constitutional rule, telling ECOWAS mediators, "More than anything, I do it out of the love I have for my country". On 19 April, Touré went into exile in neighboring Senegal.

Honours

Foreign honours