Mali

• subtropical to arid;
• hot and dry (February to June);
• rainy, humid, and mild (June to November);
• cool and dry (November to February)

• hot, dust-laden harmattan haze common during dry seasons;
• recurring droughts;
• occasional Niger River flooding

• deforestation;
• soil erosion;
• desertification;
• loss of pasture land;
• inadequate supplies of potable water

party to:

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified:

none of the selected agreements

• landlocked;
• divided into three natural zones: the southern, cultivated Sudanese;
• the central, semiarid Sahelian;
• and the northern, arid Saharan

noun:

Malian(s)

adjective:

Malian

0-14 years:

48.03% (male 4,449,790 /female 4,402,076)

15-24 years:

18.89% (male 1,657,609 /female 1,823,453)

25-54 years:

26.36% (male 2,243,158 /female 2,615,695)

55-64 years:

3.7% (male 346,003 /female 335,733)

65 years and over:

3.02% (male 277,834 /female 278,542) (2018 est.)

total dependency ratio:

101.9 (2015 est.)

youth dependency ratio:

96.8 (2015 est.)

elderly dependency ratio:

5.1 (2015 est.)

potential support ratio:

19.5 (2015 est.)

total:

15.8 years (2018 est.)

male:

15.2 years

female:

16.5 years

at birth:

1.03 male(s)/female

0-14 years:

1.01 male(s)/female

15-24 years:

0.91 male(s)/female

25-54 years:

0.86 male(s)/female

55-64 years:

1.03 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

1 male(s)/female

total population:

0.95 male(s)/female (2018 est.)

total:

67.6 deaths/1,000 live births (2018 est.)

male:

73.3 deaths/1,000 live births

female:

61.7 deaths/1,000 live births

total population:

60.8 years (2018 est.)

male:

58.6 years

female:

63 years

degree of risk:

very high (2016)

food or waterborne diseases:

bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever (2016)

vectorborne diseases:

malaria and dengue fever (2016)

water contact diseases:

schistosomiasis (2016)

animal contact diseases:

rabies (2016)

respiratory diseases:

meningococcal meningitis (2016)

conventional long form:

Republic of Mali

conventional short form:

Mali

local long form:

Republique de Mali

local short form:

Mali

former:

French Sudan and Sudanese Republic

etymology:

name derives from the West African Mali Empire of the 13th to 16th centuries A.D.

name:

Bamako

geographic coordinates:

12 39 N, 8 00 W

time difference:

UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

etymology:

the name in the Bambara language can mean either "crocodile tail" or "crocodile river" and three crocodiles appear on the city seal

• 10 regions (regions, singular - region), 1 district*;
• District de Bamako*, Gao, Kayes, Kidal, Koulikoro, Menaka, Mopti, Segou, Sikasso, Taoudenni, Tombouctou (Timbuktu);
• note - Menaka and Taoudenni were legislated in 2016, but implementation has not been confirmed by the US Board on Geographic Names

history:

several previous; latest drafted August 1991, approved by referendum 12 January 1992, effective 25 February 1992, suspended briefly in 2012

amendments:

• proposed by the president of the republic or by members of the National Assembly;
• passage requires two-thirds majority vote by the Assembly and approval in a referendum;
• constitutional sections on the integrity of the state, its republican and secular form of government, and its multiparty system cannot be amended;
• amended 1999 (2017)

citizenship by birth:

no

citizenship by descent only:

at least one parent must be a citizen of Mali

dual citizenship recognized:

yes

residency requirement for naturalization:

5 years

chief of state:

President Ibrahim Boubacar KEITA (since 4 September 2013)

head of government:

Prime Minister Boubou CISSE (since 23 April 2019)

cabinet:

Council of Ministers appointed by the prime minister

elections/appointments:

• president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term);
• election last held on 29 July 2018 with a runoff on 12 August 2018;
• prime minister appointed by the president

election results:

Ibrahim Boubacar KEITA elected president in second round; percent of vote - Ibrahim Boubacar KEITA (RPM) 77.6%, Soumaila CISSE (URD) 22.4%

description:

unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (147 seats; members directly elected in single and multi-seat constituencies by absolute majority vote in 2 rounds if needed; 13 seats reserved for citizens living abroad; members serve 5-year terms)

elections:

last held on 24 November and 15 December 2013 (next originally scheduled for 25 November 2018, but postponed to 2019)

election results:

• percent of vote by party - RPM 29.4%, URD 22.6%, ADEMA 11.5, other 36.5%;
• seats by party - RPM 66, URD 17, ADEMA 16, FARE 6, CODEM 5, SADI 5, CNID 4, other 24, independent 4;
• composition - men 133, women 14, percent of women 9.5%

highest courts:

Supreme Court or Cour Supreme (consists of 19 members organized into 3 civil chambers and a criminal chamber); Constitutional Court (consists of 9 members)

judge selection and term of office:

• Supreme Court members appointed by the Ministry of Justice to serve 5-year terms;
• Constitutional Court members selected - 3 each by the president, the National Assembly, and the Supreme Council of the Magistracy;
• members serve single renewable 7-year terms

subordinate courts:

• Court of Appeal;
• High Court of Justice (jurisdiction limited to cases of high treason or criminal offenses by the president or ministers while in office);
• magistrate courts;
• first instance courts;
• labor dispute courts;
• special court of state security

• African Solidarity for Democracy and Independence or SADI [Oumar MARIKO]
• Alliance for Democracy in Mali-Pan-African Party for Liberty, Solidarity, and Justice or ADEMA-PASJ [Tiemoko SANGARE]
• Alliance for Democracy and Progress or ADP-Maliba [Amadou THIAM]
• Alliance for the Solidarity of Mali-Convergence of Patriotic Forces or ASMA-CFP [Soumeylou Boubeye MAIGA]
• Alternative Forces for Renewal and Emergence or FARE [Modibo SIDIBE]
• Convergence for the Development of Mali or CODEM [Housseyni Amion GUINDO]
• Economic and Social Development Party or PDES [Jamille BITTAR]
• Front for Democracy and the Republic or FDR (coalition of smaller opposition parties)
• National Congress for Democratic Initiative or CNID [Mountaga TALL]
• Party for National Renewal or PARENA [Tiebile DRAME]
• Patriotic Movement for Renewal or MPR [Choguel Kokalla MAIGA]
• Rally for Mali or RPM [Boucary TRETA]
• Union for Republic and Democracy or URD [Younoussi TOURE]

chief of mission:

Ambassador Dennis B. HANKINS (since 15 March 2019)

telephone:

[223] 2070-2300

embassy:

located off the Roi Bin Fahad Aziz Bridge west of the Bamako central district; ACI 2000, Rue 243, Porte 297

mailing address:

ACI 2000, Rue 243, Porte 297, Bamako

FAX:

[223] 2070-2479

name:

"Le Mali" (Mali)

lyrics/music:

Seydou Badian KOUYATE/Banzoumana SISSOKO

note: adopted 1962; also known as "Pour L'Afrique et pour toi, Mali" (For Africa and for You, Mali) and "A ton appel Mali" (At Your Call, Mali)

• food processing;
• construction;
• phosphate and gold mining

agriculture:

80%

industry and services:

20% (2005 est.)

lowest 10%:

3.5%

highest 10%:

25.8% (2010 est.)

general assessment:

• domestic system improving;
• increasing use of local radio loops to extend network coverage to remote areas;
• geography a challenge for telecommunications;
• poverty, security, high illiteracy and low PC use has taken its toll;
• 4 mobile operators in market;
• potential for mobile broadband services;
• local plans for Internet Exchange Point (2018)

domestic:

fixed-line subscribership remains less than 1 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular subscribership has increased sharply to over 113 per 100 persons (2018)

international:

• country code - 223;
• satellite communications center and fiber-optic links to neighboring countries;
• satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean, 1 Indian Ocean);
• new competition with submarine fiber optic cables in the region

• national public TV broadcaster;
• 2 privately owned companies provide subscription services to foreign multi-channel TV packages;
• national public radio broadcaster supplemented by a large number of privately owned and community broadcast stations;
• transmissions of multiple international broadcasters are available (2019)

• the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) has operated in the country since 2013;
• the Mission's responsibilities include providing security, rebuilding Malian security forces, supporting national political dialogue, and assisting in the reestablishment of Malian government authority;
• as of July 2019, MINUSMA had more than 16,000 military, police, and civilian personnel deployed (2019)

total:

593 km (2014)

narrow gauge:

593 km 1.000-m gauge (2014)

al-Mulathamun Battalion:

aim(s): implement ISIS's strict interpretation of Sharia; replace the Malian Government with an Islamic state

area(s) of operation:

headquartered in the north; targets primarily international interests, especially Westerners and Western entities

(2018)

al-Qa'ida-affiliated Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM): aim(s): establish an Islamic state centered in Mali

area(s) of operation:

• primarily based in northern and central Mali;
• targets Western and local interests in West Africa and Sahel;
• has claimed responsibility for attacks in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso

note: pledged allegiance to al-Qa'ida and AQIM; holds Western hostages; wages attacks against security and peacekeeping forces in Mali ( 2018)

Islamic State of Iraq and ash-sham networks in the Greater Sahara (ISGS): aim(s): replace regional governments with an Islamic state

area(s) of operation:

mostly concentrated along the Mali-Niger border region; targets primarily security forces (2018)

refugees (country of origin):

15,319 (Mauritania), 8,457 (Burkina Faso) (2019)

IDPs:

199,385 (Tuareg rebellion since 2012) (2019)

current situation:

• Mali is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking;
• internal trafficking is more prevalent than transnational trafficking, but foreign women and girls are forced into domestic servitude, agricultural labor, and support roles in gold mines, as well as subjected to sex trafficking;
• Malian boys are forced to work in agricultural settings, gold mines, the informal commercial sector and to beg within Mali and neighboring countries;
• Malians and other Africans who travel through Mali to Mauritania, Algeria, or Libya in hopes of reaching Europe are particularly at risk of becoming victims of human trafficking;
• men and boys, primarily of Songhai ethnicity, are subjected to debt bondage in the salt mines of Taoudenni in northern Mali;
• some members of Mali's Tamachek community are subjected to hereditary slavery-related practices;
• Malian women and girls are victims of sex trafficking in Gabon, Libya, Lebanon, and Tunisia;
• the recruitment of child soldiers by armed groups in northern Mali decreased

tier rating:

• Tier 2 Watch List - Mali does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
• however, it is making significant efforts to do so;
• in 2014, Mali was granted a waiver from an otherwise required downgrade to Tier 3 because its government has a written plan that, if implemented would constitute making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
• officials failed to distribute the 2012 anti-trafficking law to judicial and law enforcement personnel, perpetuating a lack of understanding and awareness of the legislation;
• anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts decreased in 2014, with only one case investigated and no prosecutions or convictions;
• fewer victims were identified, and the government did not support the privately funded NGOs and international organizations it relied upon to provide victims with services;
• the government did not conduct any awareness-raising campaigns, workshops, or training sessions (2015)