BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY
A Amadou Toumani Touré
PRESIDENT OF MALI
Amadou Toumani Toure
PRESIDENT OF MALI
Amadou Toumani Toure
ALSO KNOWN AS
ATT
BORN
November 4, 1948 (age 68)
Mopti
TITLE / OFFICE
President, Mali (2002-2012)
President, Mali (1991-1992)
VIEW BIOGRAPHIES RELATED TO
CATEGORIES
government
president
DATES
November 4
RELATED BIOGRAPHIES
Ali Farka Touré
Salif Keita
Yambo Ouologuem
Malick Sidibé
Modibo Keita
Oumou Sangaré
Seydou Keïta
Sotigui Kouyaté
Salif Keita
Amadou Toumani Touré, byname ATT (born November 4, 1948, Mopti, French Sudan [now in Mali]), Malian politician and military leader who twice led his country. He served as interim president (1991–92) after a coup and was elected president in 2002. In March 2012 he was deposed in a military coup. He officially resigned the next month.
Touré studied to be a teacher and later joined the army in 1969, receiving military training in France and the U.S.S.R. At one time he was a member of the Presidential Guard in Mali, but he had a falling out with the president, Gen. Moussa Traoré, and lost this position.
Touré first came to international prominence on March 26, 1991, as the leader of a coup that toppled Traoré (who had himself come to power in 1968 in a coup against Modibo Keita). Touré’s coup was generally welcomed because of Traoré’s repressive policies, which had led to popular unrest, often manifested in violent riots, in 1990–91. It was after days of such rioting that the coup took place, and it seemed to many that Touré had acted in the name of the people and brought stability and democracy to the country. Be this as it may, the pro-democracy forces in the country lost little time in organizing the 1992 presidential election, in which Touré did not stand, and he retired as president on June 8, 1992.
For the next decade Touré occupied himself with nonmilitary activities, mostly concerned with public health. In 1992 he became the head of Mali’s Intersectoral Committee for Guinea Worm Eradication, and he was associated with campaigns to eliminate polio and other childhood diseases as well as working for the control of AIDS in Africa, often collaborating with the Carter Center, the nonprofit humanitarian organization run by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter. Touré also was active in trying to resolve disputes in the Great Lakes region (Rwanda, Burundi, and Democratic Republic of the Congo) and served as a United Nations special envoy to the Central African Republic after a coup occurred in that country in 2001.
In preparation for Mali’s 2002 presidential elections, Touré resigned from the armed forces in September 2001. He ran as an independent candidate in the first round of voting, held on April 28, and did well, receiving the most votes. He prevailed in the second round, held on May 12, with the support of more than 40 parties and received 65 percent of the total vote, although the election was marred by low voter turnout and allegations of fraud. Nonetheless, Touré was inaugurated on June 8, 2002. As a president without party affiliation, he did not have the automatic support of a party in the National Assembly, but he offered to work with any party or coalition of parties that could gain legislative control. To that end, in September 2002 the Presidential Bloc coalition was formed to work with Touré, and he enjoyed the support of a stable legislative majority for a few years.
BRITANNICA STORIES
DEMYSTIFIED / FOOD
Can Eating Too Many Carrots Make Your Skin Turn Orange?
Carrots (Daucus carota sativus) are economically important members of the order Apiales.
SPOTLIGHT / PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION
100th Anniversary of Our Lady of Fátima
The three children, Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia, who saw the vision of Fatima in Portugal. Our lady of Fatima, saint, Christianity.
SPOTLIGHT / SCIENCE
Amazing Mangroves
Exposed roots of mangrove trees in Tha Pom Khlong Song Nam park, near Krabi, Thailand. Forest swamp habitat ecosystem plants
DEMYSTIFIED / MUSIC
What’s So Special About Stradivarius Violins?
Nathan Milstein playing an 18th-century violin made by renowned violin maker Antonio Stradivari.
Touré was reelected in 2007, again running as an independent candidate, although he had the backing of the Alliance for Democracy and Progress (ADP), a group of more than 40 parties that formed to support him. Touré captured 71 percent of the vote in the first round of voting, held on April 29, thus avoiding the need for a runoff election. In legislative elections held a few months later, the ADP won the majority of seats, and Touré again was able to enjoy stable legislative support.
On March 21, 2012, a coup was launched by a faction of the military that was unhappy with the way Touré’s administration was handling rebel activity in northern Mali. As the mutinying soldiers announced the suspension of the constitution and closed the country’s borders, Touré’s actual whereabouts were unknown, but he was said to be in a safe location guarded by troops still loyal to him. A week later Touré confirmed that he was still in Mali and not being held by the junta. On April 8 Touré officially resigned from the presidency as part of an agreement, mediated by the Economic Community of West African States, under which the junta promised to hand over power to a civilian government.
PRESIDENT OF MALI
Amadou Toumani Toure
PRESIDENT OF MALI
Amadou Toumani Toure
ALSO KNOWN AS
ATT
BORN
November 4, 1948 (age 68)
Mopti
TITLE / OFFICE
President, Mali (2002-2012)
President, Mali (1991-1992)
VIEW BIOGRAPHIES RELATED TO
CATEGORIES
government
president
DATES
November 4
RELATED BIOGRAPHIES
Ali Farka Touré
Salif Keita
Yambo Ouologuem
Malick Sidibé
Modibo Keita
Oumou Sangaré
Seydou Keïta
Sotigui Kouyaté
Salif Keita
Amadou Toumani Touré, byname ATT (born November 4, 1948, Mopti, French Sudan [now in Mali]), Malian politician and military leader who twice led his country. He served as interim president (1991–92) after a coup and was elected president in 2002. In March 2012 he was deposed in a military coup. He officially resigned the next month.
Touré studied to be a teacher and later joined the army in 1969, receiving military training in France and the U.S.S.R. At one time he was a member of the Presidential Guard in Mali, but he had a falling out with the president, Gen. Moussa Traoré, and lost this position.
Touré first came to international prominence on March 26, 1991, as the leader of a coup that toppled Traoré (who had himself come to power in 1968 in a coup against Modibo Keita). Touré’s coup was generally welcomed because of Traoré’s repressive policies, which had led to popular unrest, often manifested in violent riots, in 1990–91. It was after days of such rioting that the coup took place, and it seemed to many that Touré had acted in the name of the people and brought stability and democracy to the country. Be this as it may, the pro-democracy forces in the country lost little time in organizing the 1992 presidential election, in which Touré did not stand, and he retired as president on June 8, 1992.
For the next decade Touré occupied himself with nonmilitary activities, mostly concerned with public health. In 1992 he became the head of Mali’s Intersectoral Committee for Guinea Worm Eradication, and he was associated with campaigns to eliminate polio and other childhood diseases as well as working for the control of AIDS in Africa, often collaborating with the Carter Center, the nonprofit humanitarian organization run by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter. Touré also was active in trying to resolve disputes in the Great Lakes region (Rwanda, Burundi, and Democratic Republic of the Congo) and served as a United Nations special envoy to the Central African Republic after a coup occurred in that country in 2001.
In preparation for Mali’s 2002 presidential elections, Touré resigned from the armed forces in September 2001. He ran as an independent candidate in the first round of voting, held on April 28, and did well, receiving the most votes. He prevailed in the second round, held on May 12, with the support of more than 40 parties and received 65 percent of the total vote, although the election was marred by low voter turnout and allegations of fraud. Nonetheless, Touré was inaugurated on June 8, 2002. As a president without party affiliation, he did not have the automatic support of a party in the National Assembly, but he offered to work with any party or coalition of parties that could gain legislative control. To that end, in September 2002 the Presidential Bloc coalition was formed to work with Touré, and he enjoyed the support of a stable legislative majority for a few years.
BRITANNICA STORIES
DEMYSTIFIED / FOOD
Can Eating Too Many Carrots Make Your Skin Turn Orange?
Carrots (Daucus carota sativus) are economically important members of the order Apiales.
SPOTLIGHT / PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION
100th Anniversary of Our Lady of Fátima
The three children, Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia, who saw the vision of Fatima in Portugal. Our lady of Fatima, saint, Christianity.
SPOTLIGHT / SCIENCE
Amazing Mangroves
Exposed roots of mangrove trees in Tha Pom Khlong Song Nam park, near Krabi, Thailand. Forest swamp habitat ecosystem plants
DEMYSTIFIED / MUSIC
What’s So Special About Stradivarius Violins?
Nathan Milstein playing an 18th-century violin made by renowned violin maker Antonio Stradivari.
Touré was reelected in 2007, again running as an independent candidate, although he had the backing of the Alliance for Democracy and Progress (ADP), a group of more than 40 parties that formed to support him. Touré captured 71 percent of the vote in the first round of voting, held on April 29, thus avoiding the need for a runoff election. In legislative elections held a few months later, the ADP won the majority of seats, and Touré again was able to enjoy stable legislative support.
On March 21, 2012, a coup was launched by a faction of the military that was unhappy with the way Touré’s administration was handling rebel activity in northern Mali. As the mutinying soldiers announced the suspension of the constitution and closed the country’s borders, Touré’s actual whereabouts were unknown, but he was said to be in a safe location guarded by troops still loyal to him. A week later Touré confirmed that he was still in Mali and not being held by the junta. On April 8 Touré officially resigned from the presidency as part of an agreement, mediated by the Economic Community of West African States, under which the junta promised to hand over power to a civilian government.
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