African Kingdoms

Modern Mali
AD 1960 - Present Day
Incorporating Heads of State (1960-2025)

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A landlocked African state in West Africa, the republic of Mali is largely sustained by the fertile Niger river basin in the south and east of the country. Its capital is at Bamako, which was established as such in 1908 by the French government of colonial French Sudan. It is neighboured to the north by Algeria, to the east by Niger, to the south by Burkino Faso, Ivory Coast, and Guinea, and to the west by Senegal and Mauritania.

The historic city of Timbuktu (which used to be spelled variously as Timbuctoo or Timbuktoo) is located twenty kilometres to the north of the River Niger, on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. Modern Mali was formed out of the various splinter states which had existed in the region since the collapse of the Mali empire in the seventeenth century. That empire had grown to greatness in the thirteenth century after shrugging off the Old Ghana empire.

It expanded to include the centre and south of the modern state as well as a similarly-sized strip to the Atlantic coast. Decline set in during the fifteenth century and the empire fractured in the seventeenth, leaving it ripe for takeover by the French once they had conquered a successor state in the form of the Tukulor empire.

French Sudan became the 'Mali Federation' in 1959 as Senegal was united with it. This brief experiment with a federal state survived long enough to see the region gain independence from France on 20 June 1960. It failed however when Senegal withdrew in August 1960, no longer quite so keen on federation. Now master of its own fate, the remainder of French Sudan was entirely independent.

Upon achieving independence, and despite any sense of hope which may have been offered by that independence, the country's economy steadily declined. President Modibo Keita was ousted on 19 November 1968 during a bloodless coup which was led by Lieutenant Moussa Traoré. This event was subsequently celebrated as 'Liberation Day'.

Please note that the History Files does not regularly monitor changes in modern heads of state or their representatives. Get in touch here if this section requires updating.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by John De Cleene, from the John De Cleene Archive, from History of West Africa, J F Ade Ajayi & Michael Crowder (Longman, 1985), from Encyclopaedia Britannica (Eleventh Edition, Cambridge (England), 1910), from African States and Rulers, John Stewart (McFarland, 2005), from Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali, Djibril Tamsir Niane, (Longmans, 1965), from The New Atlas of African History, G S P Freeman-Grenville (Rex Collins, London, 1991), from Times Atlas of World History (Maplewood, 1979), from Washington Post (Digest, 11 January 2013, & France's Hollande intervenes in Mali, 12 January 2013, & France's intervention in northern Mali, 16 January 2013, & Islamist redoubt in Mali is attacked, 24 February 2013, & Chad's military chief says troops killed terrorist leader in Mali, 4 March 2013), and from External Links: Encyclopaedia Britannica, and Mali (Flags of the World), and Mali (Rulers.org), and Nyaani Mansa Mamudu and the End of the Malian Empire, Yves Person (Publications of the French Society of the History of Overseasers, 1981, and available via Persée (in French)), and Mali Rebels Proclaim Independent State (New York Times), and Mali (Rulers.org).)

1960 - 1968

Head of Mali state (from Sep 1960) (SUADR). President (1965).

1960

Having just left French Sudan and the Mali Federation, an independent Mali joins the United Nations. This body had formed in 1945 when representatives of fifty countries gathered at the 'United Nations Conference on International Organization' in California's San Francisco, USA, between 25 April and 26 June 1945.

In San Francisco, USA, in summer 1945, representatives of fifty countries signed the United Nations charter to establish a new, international body which was tasked with upholding the human rights of citizens the world over

1968

Despite the new sense of hope which may have been offered by independence, in fact the economy has been declining steadily. President Modibo Keita is ousted in a bloodless coup which is led by Lieutenant Moussa Traoré.

This event, on 19 November, is subsequently celebrated as 'Liberation Day'. In opposition to that title, all political activity is banned and a police state is introduced.

1968 - 1991

President of a military committee. Born 1936.

1977

Former President Keita dies in prison in mysterious circumstances. Protests erupt when the news reaches the populace, and a large crowd attends his funeral, but Traoré cracks down hard on any further demonstrations of protest, often violently.

1979

The new constitution paves the way for elections. Lieutenant Traoré is re-elected president in a contest of only one candidate, although in nature this is now a civilian government. Such sham results are repeated in 1985 when he is also specially exempted from the normal limit of two terms of office.

Moussa Traoré started as a second-lieutenant in the army of a newly-independent Mali and ended up as the country's virtual dictator during the 1970s and 1980s before being deposed and replaced by democratic elections

1990

The nomadic Tuareg of northern Mali begin an insurgency over land and cultural rights. A previous uprising in the 1960s had ended in an uneasy peace. Central government attempts at military and negotiated solutions fail continuously to resolve the situation over the next few years.

1991 - 1992

Traoré puts down a huge protest march in Bamako, with up to three hundred people being killed. Four days later, Traoré is deposed by a military coup which is led by the commander of his personal guard. He is replaced by a transitional committee and military rule is ended by democratic elections.

1991 - 1992

Military head of national reconciliation council.

1992 - 2002

President (AfD in Mali PanAfrican Party for Liberty).

1995

A peace agreement with the Tuareg tribes leads to the return of thousands of refugees. Major fighting against the Tuareg ends, although the region is never truly at peace.

Despite being traditionalist nomads, the modern Tuareg are virtually a match for the government forces which have been struggling to suppress them

2002 - 2012

President (to Mar 2012, no party). Overthrown.

2006 - 2007

In June the government signs an Algerian-brokered peace deal with the Tuareg rebels who are seeking greater autonomy for their northern desert region. The rebels loot weapons from the town of Kidal in May, raising fears of a new rebellion.

The insurgency gathers pace in 2007. Government soldiers are abducted in separate incidents near the Niger and Algerian borders and the Tuareg are blamed.

2008

Tuareg rebels kill seventeen soldiers in a May 2008 attack on an army post in the north-east, despite a ceasefire being agreed just a month earlier. In December 2008, at least twenty people are killed and several taken hostage in an attack by Tuareg rebels on a military base in northern Mali.

A new threat emerged on both sides of the Sahara in the early twenty-first century - in Mali and Algeria alike - in the form of extreme Islamic terrorist attacks, ostensibly aimed at foreigners but generally hurting ordinary people

2009

The government states that the army has taken control of all bases of the most active Tuareg rebel group. A week later seven hundred rebels surrender their weapons in a ceremony which marks their return to the peace process. In May 2009, Algeria begins sending military equipment to Mali in preparation for a joint operation against Islamic militants which are linked to al-Qaeda.

2011

The Tuareg benefit from an influx of arms from the recent Libyan civil war. The Saharan branch of al-Qaeda is quick to move into this increasingly lawless area as a direct rival to the Tuareg.

2012

The government has steadily been losing control over the north of the country to Islamic fighters. Army officers who are angry at the level of support they have received in the fight against the Tuareg now overthrow the democratically-elected government of President Amadou Toumani Touré in March 2012.

Soldiers gathered at the offices of the state radio and television broadcaster after announcing a coup in Mali's capital, Bamako, in 2012

In the chaos which follows, the Tuareg seize control of the north before being ousted by al-Qaeda-linked groups which imposed a brutal interpretation of Islamic law on the local population, carrying out amputations and executions.

2012

Military head of natnl restoration committee (Mar-Apr only).

2012 - 2013

Interim president under military oversight (Apr on).

2012 - 2013

At a meeting in Nigeria in November 2012 the West African regional grouping, Ecowas, agrees to launch a coordinated military expedition to recapture the north, with UN backing. The Islamists seize the initiative and begin to advance towards the government heartland in the south-west.

Alarmed at the capture of the town of Konna, the government in Bamako asks France to intervene militarily. French troops rapidly overrun Islamist strongholds in the north, bringing the insurgency to an end and freeing the captured cities, including historic Timbuktu.

The ancient settlement of Timbuktu on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert became a centre of Islamic learning between the thirteenth and seventeeth centuries

The north remains tense, however, with both Tuareg separatists and Islamists sporadically active. Civilian rule in the north is re-established in 2013. Ibrahim Boubacar Keita takes office in September, in the first free elections since the coup.

2013 - 2020

President (Rally for Mali).

2014

A fragile truce with Tuareg separatists breaks down and the fighting continues. It is sporadic and relatively ineffectual, and does not force a rethink of the gradual withdrawal of French troops.

2020

Colonel Assimi Goïta leads a military coup against the government on 18 August 2020. Troops storm the capital of Bamako to arrest President Keita and force him to resign. He has been blamed for failing to control Islamist terrorism and failing to deal effectively with the Covid pandemic.

Colonel Assimi Goïta led a coup in 2020 to topple Mali's legitimately-elected government and institute military governance which would soon become permanent

The next day sees Goïta declaring himself chairman of the 'National Committee for the Salvation of the People', which lasts between 19-27 August 2020. Then he adopts the role of head of state until September.

2020

Military chairman and head of state (Aug-Sep).

2020 - 2021

Interim president.

2021

Acting Vice-President (as he now is) Colonel Assimi Goïta arrests interim president, Bah N'Daw, and interim prime minister, Mortar Ouane, on 25 May 2021. Both are removed from office and Goïta again seizes power. On the following day he grants himself the position of transitional president.

2021 - On

Transitional president (unelected). Then interim president.

2021

Goïta in late December 2021 invites Russian mercenaries to aid the government. The Russians, however, complicate the fight against the Azawad Islamists by indulging in human rights atrocities, including mass killings, forced disappearances, and sexual assaults.

Members of Russia's Wagner Group mercenaries sit on top of a tank in Rostov-on-Don, which they captured on 24 June 2023 to take control of the 'Southern Military District', while also having units serving in Africa

2022

France has always been the leading military power in the region owing to its ex-colonial links in the form of French Sudan. It has spent decades in attempting to aid Mali's government against dissident rebels and terrorist organisations.

Now, thoroughly disheartened by the mess being caused by the Russians, and the Mali government's uncooperativeness, France announces in February 2022 that it and its security partners will withdraw all of its troops from Mali.

On 21 February 2022 the 'National Transitional Council' adopts a charter which allows the military authorities to rule for up to five years (in a form of legalised dictatorship). Following that, Assimi Goïta will be barred from being a candidate in presidential elections.

Malian and allied foreign fighters who apparently are associated with the Russia-linked Wagner Group were implicated in unlawful killings of civilians during 2024 counterterrorism operations in central and northern Mali