According to ezinereligion, in 2007, Mali had a population of just over 13 million people. The economy of Mali was largely based on agriculture and livestock production. Its foreign relations were strong with many countries in the region, such as Algeria, Mauritania and Burkina Faso. Politically, Mali was a semi-presidential republic with Amadou Toumani Touré as the President at the time. He had been in power since 2002 and led the governing coalition Alliance for Democracy and Progress (ADP). The opposition consisted of several smaller parties such as National Congress for Democratic Initiative (CNID) and Alliance for Democracy in Mali (ADEMA). These parties had been gaining more support nationwide since 2000.
Yearbook 2007
Mali. In April, President Amadou Toumani Touré was easily re-elected for a second term. The popular former general, who paved the way for democracy in Mali in 1992, received just over 68 percent of the vote in the presidential election. In July, the Alliance for Democracy and Progress received 128 of Parliament’s 147 seats. The alliance, which consists of some 40 parties, joins the president, known as “ATT”.
According to CountryAAH, Bamako is the capital city of Mali. Mali is praised for his democratic system, whose biggest shortcoming is the ever-very low turnout. Since the introduction of democracy, even half of those entitled to vote have never voted. In this year’s presidential election, attendance was about 36 percent.
- According to abbreviationfinder: ML is the 2-letter acronym for the country of Mali.
After the elections, a strong government reform was implemented. A new prime minister, Modibo Sidibé, added an almost brand new ministry. None of the opposition politicians who held government posts were allowed to remain.
A small blemish on the country’s democratic reputation was the charges in June against a high school teacher, who had the students write an essay on a girl who has children with a fictitious president, and four journalists who wrote on the essay. Despite protests, even from abroad, the teacher was sentenced to two months in prison. One of the journalists was jailed for 13 days, the other three received conditional sentences.
Despite a peace treaty in 2006, an armed uprising again flared up among Tuareg governments in the Northeast. Dozens of army soldiers were robbed and sporadic fighting continued during the fall. France promised military aid to crush the insurgency.
In October, the government decided to abolish the death penalty. The law must first be considered by Parliament to enter into force.
Economy
The dominant economic activity is represented by agriculture and livestock, which occupy 65% of the active population, but contributing only 46% to the formation of the gross domestic product. Despite the recurring droughts and the consequent losses of crops and livestock, which always make life difficult in the Mali, it is still the primary sector that presents the greatest opportunities for growth, provided that massive infrastructure and irrigation works are carried out. . Breeding, mainly practiced in the Nioro and Nara area and in the internal delta of the Niger river, is the country’s greatest economic resource even if the lack of slaughtering and conservation facilities limits the possibility of this sector. In 1990 the livestock stock numbered 5 million cattle, 11.7 million sheep and goats.
The agricultural area covers just under 2% of the total area. Food crops (millet 6.9 million q, corn 2.1 million q, peanuts 1.6 million q, rice, sugar cane, etc.) are unable to satisfy domestic consumption, while industrial crops, undertaken by the French (cotton 970,000 q of fiber, 1.4 million q of seeds, and tobacco), originate rather modest flows of exports. About 70,000 tons of fish are fished from the Niger waters around Mopti, Ségou, Tombouctou and Gao, partially destined for the markets of neighboring countries. For lack of capital, the country’s mineral resources are still in a state of reserves: bauxite in the South-East, in the Bamako area and on the Mandingo plateau; iron in Kita and Bafoulabé; manganese in Asongo; phosphates and salt at Taoudenni. kombinat for the textile industry), Dougabougou, Seribala, Diamou (cement factory). The installed electricity is 87,000 kW and the production of 205 million kWh, 80% of which comes from water. The Selingué dam has been operating on the Niger river since 1982, with the hydroelectric plant of the same name, which with a production capacity of about 45 MW has greatly relieved the country’s trade balance from the importation of petroleum products. At the end of the 1980s, however, hydroelectric production was suspended several times due to the low water level of the river. In 1988, construction work was completed on the Manantali dam on the Senegal River, whose facilities for the production of electricity (about 800 million kWh per year, half assigned to Mali) were inaugurated only in November 1992 due to the state of tension that had arisen in relations between Senegal and Mauritania, countries that participated in the construction of the dam. Further obstacles to the development of Mali are linked to the lack of infrastructures and to the continentality of the country (the ports of Dakar and Abidjan are far away and not very accessible from Mali).
On Niger, particularly in the months following the rainy season, there is an intense traffic of both goods and passengers (on the typical local boats, the pinasse) which leads to the ports of Koulikoro and Gao. There is always a single railway line that connects Bamako (starting from the river port of Koulikoro) with Dakar, via Tambacounda. The partially paved roads exceed 15,700 km, the vehicles are about 29,000. International air traffic rests on the capital’s airport.