POLITICS-MALI: Bracing for “Zero to Six” in Parliamentary Elections

A fear has been voiced that the number of women in Mali's parliament could be more than halved during legislative elections that wrapped up Sunday.

POLITICS-MALI: A Presidential Election That Breaks With Tradition

When Malians queue to cast ballots in presidential elections Sunday, they will be participating in a poll with a difference: for the first time ever, a woman will be amongst the candidates voters have to choose between.

ENERGY-MALI: Wood – The Gift That Can’t Keep on Giving

Year by year, the figures have increased relentlessly. While some 600,000 tonnes of wood were transported to the Malian capital of Bamako in 1994, according to official figures, 750,000 tonnes were sent in 1997. This year, the city is projected to consume 900,000 tonnes - and the country as a whole, seven million tonnes.

ENVIRONMENT-MALI: Forests in Decline

The figures tell the story. In 1990, forests in Mali extended over more than 14 million hectares. But by 2000 they covered 13,117,643 hectares, according to a national report on the state of the environment made public in 2005. This marked a reduction of about seven percent in the West African country's forests, in just a decade.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: On the Eve of the Nairobi Gathering, a Glance Back

Almost a year ago, IPS interviewed a cross-section of people in Mali to gauge expectations for the African leg of the 2006 World Social Forum (WSF), held in Bamako. Certain interviewees were sceptical about whether the meeting could effect political and economic change; others proved more hopeful. So, were their expectations realised?

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: The Toll Taken by Illegal Migration Remembered

About a year ago, headlines were dominated by the latest tragedy to befall African migrants who try to enter Europe illegally. According to rights group Amnesty International, at least 11 were killed over the space of a few weeks as thousands of Africans tried to scale fences surrounding Ceuta and Melilla.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Cynicism and Hope Ahead of the Bamako Gathering

With just a day to go before Africa's first-ever World Social Forum (WSF) gets underway in Mali, attitudes towards the meeting appear somewhat mixed in the West African country.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Cynicism and Hope Ahead of the Bamako Gathering

With just a day to go before Africa's first-ever World Social Forum (WSF) gets underway in Mali, attitudes towards the meeting appear somewhat mixed in the West African country.

ENVIRONMENT-MALI: Officials Try to Cut Down on Logging

The rapid pace of deforestation in Mali has prompted government to introduce a ban on the logging of live trees during the country’s rainy season, in the second half of the year.

HEALTH-MALI: Women Clock Up Success With Maternal Mortality MDG

The small Malian town of Zegoua - population 22,000 - doesn't have a great many "claims to fame". In one respect, however, it has achieved something remarkable.

HEALTH-MALI: Guinea Worm Continues to Take a Toll

In 1994, authorities in Mali launched a programme to eradicate guinea worm – a parasite that can grow to a length of almost a metre inside the human body, later emerging through a blister in the skin. While the programme was very successful in its first six years, a troubling resurgence of guinea worm was reported last year in the central Mopti region.

DEVELOPMENT-MALI: Government Faces Stiff Challenges in Meeting Water Needs

"Our country has an enormous potential when it comes to water resources. If we develop these resources properly, they should allow us to try and get beyond food self-sufficiency," says Mali’s President, Amadou Toumani Toure.

POPULATION-MALI: An Ever-Growing Diaspora

It's a common sight in the Malian capital: large groups of young people queuing in front of the French and American consulates with one objective in mind - to obtain an immigration visa.

ENVIRONMENT-MALI: City Runs Out of Water

"Taking bath, which most people always take for granted, has become a luxury here,'' says Ahmouden Ag Ikmass, deputy mayor of Kidal, referring to the acute water shortage in the region.

RIGHTS-MALI: Campaign to Declare HIV/AIDS a Public Health Threat

If HIV/AIDS is declared a public-health threat just as smallpox, leprosy and tuberculosis were, discrimination against people living with the virus would diminish, believes an activist.

RIGHTS-MALI: Campaign to Declare HIV/AIDS a Public Health Threat

If HIV/AIDS is declared a public-health threat just as smallpox, leprosy and tuberculosis were, discrimination against people living with the virus would diminish, believes an activist.

ENVIRONMENT-MALI: Making a Living by Recycling Garbage

Fifty waste dumps dot the streets of Bamako, the capital of Mali, and in almost all of them, scavengers make a living recycling other people's trash.

POLITICS: NGOs Demand Key Role in Shaping Africa’s Future

Hotel managers and transport providers in Siby, a sleepy town some 52 kilometres east of the Malian capital city Bamako, where a group of civil society and rights activists converged to chart Africa's future last week, must have little to do now.

ENVIRONMENT-MALI: Women Declare War on Garbage

Women in Mali have declared war on garbage, an eyesore trash, which they have described as an enemy of the environment.

POLITICS-MALI: New President to Take over in June

Toumani Toure, 53, a retired army general, will succeed Alpha Oumar Konare as Mali's new President on June 8.