Dioncounda Traoré

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Dioncounda Traoré
Dioncounda Traore photo officielle de campagne 3 Mali 2012.jpg
President of Mali
Acting
In office
12 April 2012 – 4 September 2013
Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra (Acting)
Django Sissoko (Acting)
Preceded by Amadou Sanogo (Chairperson of the National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and State)
Succeeded by Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta
President of the National Assembly
In office
3 September 2007 – 2012
Preceded by Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta
Succeeded by Issaka Sidibé
Minister for Foreign Affairs
In office
25 October 1994 – 24 August 1997
Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta
Preceded by Sy Kadiatou Sow
Succeeded by Modibo Sidibé
Personal details
Born (1942-02-23) 23 February 1942 (age 82)
Kati, French Sudan (now Mali)
Political party Alliance for Democracy in Mali
Alma mater University of Algiers
University of Nice

Dioncounda Traoré (born 23 February 1942) is a Malian politician who was President of Mali in an interim capacity from April 2012 to September 2013. Previously he was President of the National Assembly of Mali, a post to which he was elected in September 2007, and he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1994 to 1997. He was President of the Alliance for Democracy in Mali-African Party for Solidarity and Justice (ADEMA-PASJ) beginning in 2000,[1] and he was also President of the Alliance for Democracy and Progress (ADP), an alliance of parties that supported the re-election of President Amadou Toumani Touré in 2007.[2]

Political career

Traoré was born in Kati. After studying abroad in the Soviet Union, at the University of Algiers, and at the University of Nice, he taught in Mali at the Teachers' College (ENSUP) from 1977 to 1980. He was then arrested for trade union activities and sent to Ménaka in northern Mali.[3] Subsequently, he became director-general of the National School of Engineering.[1] He participated in the struggle for democracy that culminated with the overthrow of President Moussa Traoré in March 1991.[1][3] He was a founding member of ADEMA, and at its constitutive congress, held on 25–26 May 1991, he was elected as its second vice-president, while Alpha Oumar Konaré was elected as the party's president and Mamadou Lamine Traoré was elected as its first vice-president.[3][4]

After Konaré was elected as President of Mali in the 1992 presidential election, Traoré was appointed Minister of the Civil Service, Labor, and the Moderization of Administration on 9 June 1992, in the first government under Konaré's presidency. He was then named Minister of State for Defense on 16 April 1993, holding that position until he became Minister of State for Foreign Affairs on 25 October 1994.[1] At ADEMA's first ordinary congress, held in September 1994, Traoré was elected as the First Vice-President of the party, while Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta was elected as its President.[3][5]

He was elected to the National Assembly as a Deputy from Nara in 1997 and resigned as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs on 24 August 1997 to take his seat. In the National Assembly, he became President of the ADEMA Parliamentary Group and following the resignation of Keïta as ADEMA President in October 2000,[1] Traoré was elected as ADEMA President at the party's first extraordinary congress, held on 25–28 November 2000.[6] In the 2002 parliamentary election, he was defeated in Nara and lost his seat.[1]

In the July 2007 parliamentary election, Traoré ran again at the head of an ADEMA list in Nara, where three seats were at stake. In the first round, his list won 39.59% of the vote,[7] and in the second round it prevailed with 58.41% of the vote.[8] When the new National Assembly held its first meeting on 3 September 2007, Traoré was elected as President of the National Assembly, receiving 111 votes against 31 for Mountaga Tall of the National Congress for Democratic Initiative (CNID), another member of the ADP.[9][10]

2012 coup and interim presidency

Following the March 2012 military coup, which precipitated economic sanctions and a blockade by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) against Mali, a deal, brokered in Burkina Faso by President Blaise Compaoré under the auspices of ECOWAS, was signed on 6 April 2012 that would see the head of the military junta, Captain Amadou Sanogo, cede power to Dioncounda Traoré to assume the presidency in an interim capacity until an election could be held.[11] Traoré had left the country following the coup, but returned on 7 April.[12]

Traoré was sworn in as President at a ceremony on 12 April 2012. He pledged to "wage a total and relentless war" on the Tuareg rebellion in Mali's north unless it relinquished its control of northern Malian cities and its declared state of Azawad.[13]

On 13 August 2012, he reappointed Cheick Modibo Diarra as Prime Minister, giving Diarra three days to form a unity government.[14] Traoré was eventually succeeded as President by Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on 4 September 2013, after the latter prevailed in the July–August 2013 presidential election.[15]

On 21 May 2012, soldiers allowed a group of pro-coup demonstrators into Traoré's office in Bamako.[16] The demonstrators, who had been carrying a mock coffin with Traoré's name written on it,[17] fought past two Red Beret guards to attack him. When one of the guards put a helmet on Traoré's head to protect him, a member of the crowd removed it and used it to beat Traoré. Other members of the crowd punched and kicked him. Traoré was then stripped naked, with members of the crowd carrying away pieces of his clothing. Jeune Afrique reported that members of the crowd shouted triumphantly that he was dead.[18][19]

He was brought to Point G Hospital but was not conscious, apparently suffering from a head injury.[20] Three protesters were killed and others wounded when Traoré's security fired on the attackers.[16] After an examination showed no serious injury, Traoré was taken to a secure location. PM Cheick Modibo Diarra called for calm and an end to protest marches, stating that the attack was "not worthy of our country".[21] On 23 May, it was announced that Traoré would travel to France for further health checks, reportedly including an examination of his pacemaker.[22] He remained there for two months, returning on 27 July.[23]

On 5 June 2012, coup supporters Boubacar Bore, Yacouba Niare and Mamadou Sangare were arrested in connection with the attack.[24] A video of the attack was posted by Jeune Afrique on 29 June.[18]

After leaving office in 2013, Traoré headed the African Union's observer mission for the April 2016 presidential election in Chad. He gave the vote a positive assessment, although he noted that there were irregularities.[25]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Dioncounda Traoré : Une riche expérience", L'Essor, number 16,025, 4 September 2007 (French).
  2. ↑ "Soumeylou Boubèye Maiga exclu de l’ADEMA", Panapress, 26 February 2007 (French).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Dioncounda Traoré, président de l'Assemblée : Un "para" à la tête de l'Hémicycle", L'Independant, 6 September 2007 (French).
  4. ↑ "Membres du conseil exécutif de l'Adéma-PASJ élus au congrès constitutif du 25 et 26 Mai 1991", ADEMA website (French).
  5. ↑ "Membres du conseil exécutif de l'Adéma-PASJ élus au premier congrès ordinaire de Septembre 1994", ADEMA website (French).
  6. ↑ "L'agenda du premier quinquennat 1992–1997", L'Essor, 6 June 2002 (French).
  7. ↑ "Liste en ballotage pour le deuxiéme tour", L'Essor, 20 July 2007 (French).
  8. ↑ "Liste provisoire des députés élus au 2è tour", L'Essor, number 15,998, 26 July 2007 (French).
  9. ↑ "Dioncounda Traoré élu président de l'Assemblée nationale : Presque un plébiscite !", L'Essor, number 16,026, 4 September 2007 (French).
  10. ↑ "Mali: Dioncounda Traoré élu président de l'Assemblée nationale", AFP, 3 September 2007 (French).
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Tiemoko Diallo and Adama Diarra, "Mali's new president promises to bring peace, fight graft", Reuters, 4 September 2013.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ D Turf, Mali's transitional president beaten up by demonstrators, Ground Report, 23 May 2012
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Moki Edwin Kindzeka, "Chadian opposition poised for possible election run-off", Voice of America, 16 April 2016.
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Foreign Affairs
1994–1997		 Succeeded by
Modibo Sidibé
Preceded by President of the National Assembly
2007–2012		 Succeeded by
Issaka Sidibé
Preceded by as Chairperson of the National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and State of Mali President of Mali
Acting
2012–2013		 Succeeded by
Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta
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