Freedom in the World 1999 - Mali

1999 Scores

Status: Free
Freedom Rating: 3.0
Civil Liberties: 3
Political Rights: 3

Overview

Mali moved to further consolidate its democratic institutions and decentralize power by holding local government elections in May and June 1999. The central government in the capital, Bamako, will no longer administer land use, schools, health centers, transport systems, and other services. Localities in theory will be able to borrow money and seek international aid to help fund locally designed development projects. The local elections indicate that after eight years in power, President Alpha Oumar Konaré and his Alliance for Democracy in Mali (ADEMA) may feel sufficiently secure to allow further openings in the country's civil society.

Financial constraints prevented voting in the 682 new towns created after Mali's decentralization from being held at the same time. The ruling ADEMA party won 61.6 percent of the localities while moderate opposition groups won most of the remainder. Radical opposition groups boycotted the polls, as they did in earlier presidential and parliamentary elections. One group, however, broke ranks and won ten localities. Poorly run legislative elections in 1997 caused a split between the ruling party and a bloc of opposition groups. The umbrella Collective of Opposition Political Parties still refuses to accept the results of the 1997 elections, which, in its view, were rigged and poorly administered. It rejects the government's legitimacy and largely boycotted 1998 municipal polls. Many foreign donors, however, agree with Konaré that opposition failures are more the result of their own shortcomings than presidential manipulation.

After achieving independence from France in 1960, Mali was ruled by military or one-party dictators for more than 30 years. After soldiers killed more than 100 demonstrators demanding a multiparty system in 1991, President Moussa Traoré was overthrown by his own military. After the 1991 coup, a national conference organized open elections that most observers judged as free and fair. Konaré won the presidency in April 1992.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Mali's people first chose their government freely and fairly in presidential and legislative elections in 1992. In 1997, little more than a quarter of registered voters participated as Konaré was overwhelmingly reelected against a weak candidate who alone broke an opposition boycott of the presidential contest. The first round of legislative elections in April 1998 was voided by the constitutional court, although international observers saw incompetence rather than fraud as the principal problem. Opposition supporters claimed that the Independent National Election Commission was independent in name only, while many analysts held that Konaré and ADEMA, running on a record of tolerance, peacemaking, and economic growth, would have easily won against a fractious opposition even in fully competitive polls. ADEMA took 127 of 147 national assembly seats, and five opposition parties shared the remaining 18 seats. Konaré's 22-member cabinet includes opposition members and four civil society representatives.

Since the end of military rule, Mali's domestic political debate has been open and extensive. Its highlight is a nationally broadcast annual "open forum" with top leaders each December. Nearly 50 political parties are officially registered, and many offer scathing criticism of government policies.

The judiciary is not independent of the executive, but has shown considerable autonomy in rendering antiadministration decisions, which Konaré has in turn respected. Former president, Moussa Traoré and his wife, Mariam, were sentenced to death in January for embezzlement. Traoré had received the death sentence in 1993 as well for ordering troops to fire on demonstrating students, which resulted in hundreds of deaths. Both sentences have been commuted to life imprisonment.

Mali's generally good human rights record was again marred by instances of police brutality and reports of systematic torture by security forces against labor activists and opposition supporters. Thousands of students protested in March 1999 to press for the release of four students sentenced to five years' hard labor for their part in violent demonstrations in 1998. Riot police used tear gas to disperse the protesters.

As in previous years, a number of local and ethnic disputes broke out in Mali in 1999, leaving dozens dead. A 1995 agreement ended the brutal multisided conflict among Tuareg guerrillas, black ethnic militias, and government troops. Former guerrilla fighters have been integrated into the national army, but fuller accommodation of the Arab Tuareg people in any political system dominated by the country's black African majority will require genuine commitment to local autonomy and cultural rights.

Mali's media are among Africa's most open. State-run television, radio, and print media allow a diversity of views. Approximately 40 independent newspapers operate freely, and about 60 independent radio and television stations, including community stations broadcasting in regional languages, operate throughout the country. Legislation that provides harsh penalties for slander or "public injury" to public officials may threaten press freedom, but has been rarely invoked.

Mali is a predominantly Muslim, but secular state, and minority and religious rights are protected by law. Most formal legal advances in protection of women's rights have not been implemented, especially in rural areas. Female genital mutilation remains legal, although the government has conducted educational campaigns against the practice. Women hold 18 seats in the 147-member national assembly.

Labor unions played a leading role in the pro-democracy movement and remain politically active. The National Union of Workers in Mali, a major labor organization in the country, went on strike for two days in July 1999 to demand a revision of salaries and lower costs for electricity and primary commodities.

Despite steady economic growth, Mali remains desperately poor, with about 65 percent of its land area desert or semidesert. Hundreds of thousands of Malians are economic migrants across Africa and Europe. In 1999, privatization of major state enterprises continued, and increasing cotton and gold production raised export earnings. About 80 percent of the labor force is engaged in farming and fishing.