Mali is engulfed in a tragic conflict that pits rural tribes and groups against each other. These is very little background information in the mainstream media on Mali and its history to enable readers to understand what is going on. This profile on Mali is a modest attempt to fill that gap – editor.
A chronology of key events:
11th century – Empire of Mali becomes dominant force in the upper Niger basin, its period of greatness beginning under King Sundiata in 1235 and peaking under Mansa Musa who ruled between 1312 and 1337 and extended empire to the Atlantic.
14th-15th centuries – Decline of the Empire of Mali, which loses dominance of the gold trade to the Songhai Empire, which makes its base in Timbuktu – historically important as a focal point of Islamic culture and a trading post on the trans-Saharan caravan route.
Late 16th century – Moroccans defeat the Songhai, make Timbuktu their capital and rule until their decline in the 18th century.
19th century – French colonial advance, and Islamic religious wars which lead to creation of theocratic states.
1898 – France completes conquest of Mali, then called French Sudan.
1959 – Mali and Senegal form the Mali Federation, which splits a year later.
Independence
1960 – Mali becomes independent with Modibo Keita as president. It becomes a one-party, socialist state and withdraws from the Franc zone.
1968 – Keita ousted in coup led by Lieutenant Moussa Traore.
1977 – Protests erupt following Keita’s death in prison.
1979 – New constitution provides for elections; Traore re-elected president.
1985 – Mali and Burkina Faso engage in border fighting.
1991 – Traore deposed in coup and replaced by transitional committee.
Democracy
1992 – Alpha Konare wins multiparty elections to become Mali’s first democratically-elected president.
1995 – Peace agreement with Tuareg tribes leads to return of thousands of refugees.
1999 – Former President Moussa Traore sentenced to death on corruption charges, but has his sentence commuted to life imprisonment by President Konare.
1999 October – Several people killed in fighting in the north between members of the Kunta tribe and an Arab community over local disputes.
2000 February – Konare appoints former International Monetary Fund official Mande Sidibe prime minister.
2001 December – Manantali dam in southwest produces its first megawatt of hydro-electricity, 13 years after it was completed.
Amadou Toure
2002 April – Amadou Toumani Toure elected president by landslide. Poll is marred by allegations of fraud.
2002 September – France says it will cancel 40% of debts owed to it by Mali, amounting to some 80m euros ($79m, £51m).
2002 October – Government resigns, without public explanation. New “government of national unity” is unveiled.
2003 August – Clashes between rival Muslim groups in west kill at least 10 people.
2004 April – Prime Minister Mohamed Ag Amani resigns and is replaced by Ousmane Issoufi Maiga.
2004 September – Agriculture minister says severe locust plague has cut cereal harvest by up to 45%.
2005 June – World Food Programme warns of severe food shortages, the result of drought and locust infestations in 2004.
2006 June – The government signs an Algerian-brokered peace deal with Tuareg rebels seeking greater autonomy for their northern desert region. The rebels looted weapons in the town of Kidal in May, raising fears of a new rebellion.
2007 April – President Toure wins a second five-year term in elections.
2007 July – The ruling coalition, Alliance for Democracy and Progress (ADP), strengthens its hold on parliament in elections.
Rebel activity
2007 August – Suspected Tuareg rebels abduct government soldiers in separate incidents near the Niger and Algerian borders.
2008 May – Tuareg rebels kill 17 soldiers in attack on an army post in the northeast, despite a ceasefire agreed a month earlier.
2008 December – At least 20 people are killed and several taken hostage in an attack by Tuareg rebels on a military base in northern Mali.
2009 February – Government says the army has taken control of all the bases of the most active Tuareg rebel group. A week later, 700 rebels surrender their weapons in ceremony marking their return to the peace process.
2009 May – Algeria begins sending military equipment to Mali in preparation for a joint operation against Islamic militants linked to al-Qaeda.
2009 August – New law boosts women’s rights, prompts some protests.
2010 January – Annual music event – Festival in the Desert – is moved from a desert oasis to Timbuktu because of security fears.
Terror challenge
2010 April – Mali, Algeria, Mauritania and Niger set up joint command to tackle threat of terrorism.
2012 January – Fears of new Tuareg rebellion following attacks on northern towns which prompt civilians to flee into Mauritania.
2012 March – Military officers depose President Toure ahead of the April presidential elections, accusing him of failing to deal effectively with the Tuareg rebellion. African Union suspends Mali.
2012 April – Tuareg rebels seize control of northern Mali, declare independence.
Military hands over to a civilian interim government, led by President Dioncounda Traore.
2012 May – Junta reasserts control after an alleged coup attempt by supporters of ousted President Toure in Bamako.
Pro-junta protesters storm presidential compound and beat Mr Traore unconscious.
The Tuareg MNLA and Islamist Ansar Dine rebel groups merge and declare northern Mali to be an Islamic state. Ansar Dine begins to impose Islamic law in Timbuktu. Al-Qaeda in North Africa endorses the deal.
2012 June-July – Ansar Dine and its Al-Qaeda ally turn on the MNLA and capture the main northern cities of Timbuktu, Kidal and Gao. They begin to destroy many Muslim shrines that offend their puritan views.
28 June, 2012
Source: BBC News Africa