Livestock and Gold: Mali's Economy

In this post I am going to discuss Mali’s economy, which is a very disheartening topic because Mali is one of the twenty-five poorest nations in the world.  Mali is landlocked, making international trade difficult.  However, Mali’s biggest trading partner is China who makes up 27.2% of their exports per year.  The other countries that Mali exports to only represent less than 10% of total exports each, and the majority of the export nations are in Asia.  The three commodities that Mali exports most are livestock, cotton, and gold as 80% of Mali’s population either fishes or farms.  As a result, when the prices of those commodities fluctuate, or when the country does not have good weather during harvest season, Mali’s economic well-being suffers.  Furthermore, although agricultural harvests are a staple of their economy, Mali does not have abundant space to cultivate such harvests. 65% of Mali’s land is desert or semi-desert but the agricultural activity that does occur takes place by the Niger River (CIA).

A man mining for gold.

http://cdn.madamenoire.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/african-gold-miners.jpg

In an attempt to diversify and protect their economy, Mali is developing their cotton and iron ore production capabilities.   Hopefully this effort will be successful, because currently 30% of Mali’s population is unemployed and 36.1% lives below the poverty line.  Previously, Mali made an effort to invest in the tourism industry, but their lack of security has deterred tourists (CIA).

            Another unfortunate factor that Mali has to deal with is that they are very dependent on other countries for many important products that are necessary to sustain their industries and their society overall.  They import petroleum, machinery and equipment, construction materials, foodstuffs, and textiles.  They import these goods from Senegal at 13.6% France at 11% and China at 6.8%.  In addition to importing essential goods, Mali receives financial assistance from many international organizations including the IMF, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank (CIA).  If it was cut off from the outside world, Mali would rapidly sink into deep turmoil; Mali greatly relies on outside nations and organizations to sustain their economy.


Source: The CIA World Factbook
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ml.html

Mali's Democratic Republic

In 1991, Amadou Toumani Toure was the chief officer in the Malian military and Moussa Traoré was the standing military ruler with 23 years of power.  Following long-term domestic unrest and economic turmoil, however, Toure arrested Traoré with the help of seventeen other leading members of the Malian military.  This event came as a delight to the Malian people and soon thereafter new constitution was put in place that established a democratic republic government in Mali (Baxter, 2002).  According to that constitution, Mali today is a representative political structure with an elected president, a 160-person national assembly, and a judicial body.  The president is considered the head of state and is elected by the people every 5 years, holding a maximum of two terms of office.  The president has the privilege of appointing a prime minister to be the head of government.  The next presidential election will occur on April 29, 2012 and parliamentary polls have been scheduled for July 1, 2012 (Coleman).

After playing a major role in the military overthrow of Traoré, Amadou Toumani Toure became a national hero and was very loved and well respected by his people.  He chose to stay out of the political realm for 10 years, instead heading peace-keeping missions throughout Africa and running his own children's charity (Baxter, 2002).  In 2002, however, he made the decision to run for presidential office.  Toure won that election, and subsequently also won his reelection bid in 2007 by a 64.35% majority of the vote (Baxter, 2002).  President Toure has been a very level headed and progressive leader. In 2009, he attempted to pass legislation that would make it so that “women are no longer required to obey their husbands, and instead husbands and wives owe each other loyalty and protection” (Vogl, 2009).  This effort, however, was met by widespread resistance given that 90% of Malians are Muslim and such ideas go against their religion.  As a result, after many demonstrations took place throughout the country against the law, including protests in Mali’s capital city that tens of thousands of people attended, Toure ultimately withdrew the legislation from consideration (Vogl, 2009).  Nevertheless, Toure is still widely respected and admired by his people.  He protects their safety and respects their interests. This is most obviously seen in his protection of the peaceful Taureg Malians who face discrimination from other groups.  Toure has urged that acceptance and unity of Malian people is very important despite cultural and racial differences (Coleman).  His prime minister today is a woman named Cissé Mariam Kaïdama Sidibé, and she is the first ever female to be the head of Mali’s government (Coleman).

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/content/20100902STO81050/html/Mali's-President-Amadou-Toumani-Touré-Africa-will-have-its-chance

Historically, the government’s main opposition has been the Taureg rebels, though al-Qaida Islamic extremists  have also been an unwanted presence and problem within their borders.  The Taureg rebels demand autonomy and resources from the Malian government while the Malian government criticizes the rebels for being drug smugglers and criminals (Coleman).  This conflict has escalated to a very high breaking point in recent months, causing a great deal of violence and upheaval.  The Taureg rebels have returned to Mali well-armed and professionally trained after spending time supporting the Qadhafi regime in Libya.  The rebels “have formed the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (NLMA), with the objective of establishing an autonomous Azawad region in the northern part of the country” (Coleman).  This conflict has caused thousands of Malian citizens to flee the country and seek refugee status in neighboring nations, and has also led to thousands of citizen deaths.

http://ez.hamilton.edu:2441/cw_topic.aspx?type=text&vcountry=109&topic=POPCO

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1993148.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8223736.stm

History of Mali

http://www.vicentewolfblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/mali.jpg

http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/country/mali.html

I initially became interested in studying Mali after reading Sundiata and learning that Mali was once the center of a very powerful empire.  Mali seems like a country with very rich heritage so I was interested to explore that heritage and to also learn more about how Mali has transformed since that time.  More generally, I chose a country in Africa because I have never done an in depth study of that continent before, so I am interested to learn about how Mali’s government is organized, what types of challenges the government faces, and what the health and social problems are that the Malian people face.

The Ghana Empire is the first significant cultural organization that Mali was a part of.   This empire was a powerful trading state whose influence flourished for over 300 years.  Following the dissolution of that empire, the first great leader who shaped the history of Mali in a major way was Sundiata whose reign during the 13^th century led to the formation of the Kingdom of Mali.  During the rule of Sundiata’s successor, Mansa Musa in the 14^th century, Mali reached its peak influence as Musa conquered neighboring lands including Timbuktu and Gao.  The religion of Islam was proliferated within the region, and the Islamic leaders who traveled to Mali built many public buildings, particularly in Timbuktu.  Consequently, the Kingdom of Mali became known as a hub for Islamic learning.

During the next century, Mali’s strength declined as weak rulers came to power and the Kingdom ultimately lost a great deal of territory.  Nevertheless, Timbuktu and its well-built learning facilities and infrastructure had made a name for itself worldwide, and many Europeans became infatuated with the idea of the idyllic city.  Thus, desiring the riches and prestige of a far away land that they could only imagine, Europeans began to flock to West Africa.

Mali ultimately fell under French colonial rule in 1890 as it became a part of the colony of Soudan.  That colonization, however, was only successfully achieved after a decade of strong and effective resistance on the part of Malian people.  The period of colonization in Mali lasted for almost one hundred years, finally coming to an end in 1960 when the French relinquished control and Soudan proclaimed itself as the Republic of Mali.

Today, Mali is a democratic country that is experiencing significant upheaval.  According to a news article published by the Voice of America, “hundreds of “Tuaregs” recently returned to Mali from Libya.  Many had fought alongside troops loyal to former Libyan dictator, Moammar Gaddafi and they returned home carrying tons of weaponry from the Libyan conflict.  Upon their return they renewed a long-simmering rebellion against the Malian government with a series of attacks on towns in north Mali on January 17.  Since then, the UNHCR says about 30,000 people have fled into Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania” (Schlein).

Works Cited

"Mali- History." Country Watch. Web. 9 Feb. 2012. <http://www.countrywatch.com/cw_topic.aspx?type=text&vcountry=109&topic=POHIS>.

Schlein, Lisa |. "UNHCR Fears Worst Yet To Come In Mali Crisis." Voice of America, 10 Feb. 2012. Web. 10 Feb. 2012. <http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/UNHCR-Fears-Worst-Yet-To-Come-In-Mali-Crisis-139102189.html>.

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