By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Aug 18 2007 (IPS)

As former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson once remarked, “A week is a long time in politics.” By this token, a political landscape can alter even more in a month, recent developments in Mali being a case in point.

About a month ago, IPS highlighted a fear in the West African country that the number of women parliamentarians might be halved – or worse – during the latest legislative polls (see ‘ POLITICS-MALI: Bracing for “Zero to Six” in Parliamentary Elections’).

Korotoumou Mariko-Thera, spokesperson for the Framework for Co-operation of Women in Political Parties – an umbrella body – told the agency that the 2007-2012 legislature could even find itself without female representatives. In the previous parliament, 14 of the 147 legislators were women.

These concerns have been put to rest with the Aug. 12 announcement of final results from the polls, which took place over two rounds last month. While no women were elected during the first round of voting, 15 made it to office during the second round. In all, 1,408 candidates contested the ballot, 227 of them women (about 16 percent of the total); 26 women were on the ballot for the final round of voting.

“It’s a success that comforts us…as for this second round, in the best case we hoped to have 13 women (elected),” Mariko-Thera said in an interview with IPS.

News of the outcome came a week after the 15 days allocated to the Constitutional Court to declare the final results – a delay that court president Salif Kanouté ascribed to the institution’s efforts to make sound rulings in complex electoral disputes. A record 250 requests were made for provisional results to be nullified.

The results for the constituency of Koulikoro, in southern Mali, and for Timbuktu and Goundam in the north were overturned.

“Fortunately, this change…did not affect the women,” said Oumou Traoré-Touré, executive secretary of the Co-ordinated Women’s Associations and Non-governmental Organisations of Mali.

However, women still account for just 10.2 percent of the new parliament, even though they make up about half of Mali’s population. It is widely held that female representatives have to control about a third of legislative seats to exercise real influence in parliament.

Amidst relief that the July polls have not pushed back the clock concerning women’s representation in parliament, there are concerns about the way in which certain female candidates conducted their campaigns.

Political analyst Bassaro Touré says there were instances of women using money from potentially dubious sources, and cheating to gain the support of voters: “They have distributed mills, pots, bathtubs, mortars and pestles, sacks of grain, of salt, of cash, of soap…They have conspired with the representatives of the administration to come out ahead.”

He says female aspirants in effect adopted the tactics used by male candidates – abandoning traditional women’s issues such as the promotion of gender equality and the fight against female genital mutilation.

Astan Diallo, a sociologist, has similar views: “I think that they have done as the men do. One could not distinguish the men from the women. It was the same speeches, the same messes; the campaigns were identical.”

Money had played a decisive role in the electoral success of those women who emerged victorious from the second round of voting – more so than the strength of their arguments, she told IPS. “We must…call them (women) to order and not fear criticising them when it’s necessary and supporting them when it’s necessary…”

Mariko-Thera acknowledges that funding is central to campaigns, but says women also brought political acumen to bear in the final stages of the race to the legislature: “…for the second round, they knew to make strategic alliances with the different sectors of society and to opt for grass roots campaigning.”

During legislative elections in Mali, voters cast ballots for lists of candidates that have been submitted by political parties for constituencies. If no list emerges with a majority of votes, then a run-off poll is held, with voters choosing between the two lists that gained the most ballots during the first round of elections. The party whose list wins a majority of votes in the second round is permitted to fill every seat in the constituency from persons on its list.

Independent candidates are allowed to vie for seats in single-member constituencies.

“Of the 15 women elected, 14 are on the lists of political parties; and, one sole female independent candidate was elected in Bourem, in the north of the country,” said Boukary Daou, a journalist and political analyst based in the capital of Bamako.

He believes that women have a better chance of being elected to office via party lists than as independent candidates; this echoes findings that it is generally easier to convince parties to advance the political interests of women than to persuade communities to overcome traditional views of women that might confine them to the home.

When democratic elections were first held in Mali some 15 years ago, after a long period of one-party rule, only two women were elected to parliament. This figure increased to 18 during the next poll in 1997, but fell to 14 in the 2002 ballot.

Over six million of the country’s 13.8 million citizens were registered to participate in last month’s parliamentary poll; however, only about a third of this number actually did so – for both the first and second rounds of voting.

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Jul 22 2007 (IPS)

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.

Parliamentary polls in this West African country require voters to cast ballots for party lists of candidates that have been submitted for constituencies. In the event that no list receives a majority of votes, a run-off poll is held between the two lists that gained the most ballots. The party whose list wins a majority of votes in the second round is then allowed to fill every seat in the constituency from persons on that list.

Independent candidates are allowed to contest seats in single-member constituencies, where a run-off will also occur in the absence of a majority being garnered during the first round of polling.

None of the 227 female candidates standing in this year’s ballot won a seat in the first round of elections Jul. 1, and only 26 were on lists put to the vote Sunday (in all, 1,408 people contested the legislative poll).

“It’s a set-back,” admitted Korotoumou Mariko-Thera, spokeswoman for the Framework for Co-operation of Women in Political Parties, and an unsuccessful candidate in the first round of elections. “In the best case we’ll have 13 women elected with this number (26). In the worst case, we will be in a range of zero to six women,” she told IPS.

There are 14 women in the country’s outgoing, 147-seat parliament. When democratic elections were held in Mali in 1992 after years of one-party rule, only two women were elected to parliament. In 1997, that number increased to 18, but fell in 2002.

Sociologist Soumaïla Sagara ascribes the poor performance of women this year to three factors.

“The first aspect is sociological and is linked to the views on female leadership in Malian society. Nowhere in our villages do you see a woman as village head,” he said.

The second factor relates to what Sagara describes as the weak fighting spirit of women during elections. Thirdly, “women lack confidence in themselves, in general” he says, adding that this deprives them of their ability to lead.

These views are echoed by Bocary Daou, a political analyst and journalist, who also highlights the part that men play in the political marginalisation of women: “Male politicians…really don’t want to cede anything to women in terms of responsibility. The other aspect is cultural…In the popular imagination, the power of women is evil.”

According to a 2006 government study on women’s access to decision-making bodies in Mali, women have an overall representation in these groupings of just 10.79 percent: 9.52 percent in parliament, 18.51 percent in the cabinet, less than one percent of mayoral posts, and under seven percent of councillors’ posts.

One of the eight candidates that contested presidential elections held in April and May was a woman (see ‘POLITICS-MALI: A Presidential Election That Breaks With Tradition’), while just over 16 percent of candidates in this year’s legislative elections were women.

Under pressure from women’s associations and movements, government tried to include a clause in electoral legislation tabled last year that would have prevented more than 70 percent of candidates on party lists from being of the same sex. But after a stormy debate Aug. 15, 2006, the law was voted in without this clause.

For her part, Mariko-Thera points a finger at lack of funding for women candidates.

“People do not vote out of conviction. At all levels, you must produce money…We are in a system where the candidate who has many more means, succeeds,” she noted, adding that women also needed to gain the support of leading parties. “Women are not on the serious lists, meaning the lists of the big parties that will give them a much better chance of being elected. They are most often either on independent lists, or on the lists of small political parties.”

It was to increase the participation of women in legislative and council elections that female members of political groupings joined hands four years ago to create the Framework for Co-operation of Women in Political Parties.

According to Bintou Sanankoua, general secretary of the Network of African Women Ministers and Parliamentarians, and a former Malian legislator, “Women are valuable in politics and their presence can moralise public life as they are mothers, guardians of tradition, and have many scruples. Their presence also may also contribute to the rehabilitation of politics that people have a tendency to trivialise today.”

“Fundamentally, the presence of women can change everything,” noted Sanankoua, this during a recent round table discussion in Mali’s capital, Bamako.

Just over six million of the country’s 13.8 million citizens were registered to vote in Sunday’s poll.

Mali is one of the poorest states in the world, with 72.3 percent of its people living on less than a dollar a day, according to the 2006 United Nations Human Development Report, and 90.6 on less than two dollars a day.

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Apr 24 2007 (IPS)

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.

Sidibé Aminata Diallo is representing the Movement for Environmental Education and Sustainable Development (Rassemblement pour l’éducation à l’environnement et au développement durable). A lecturer and specialist researcher in land management, she teaches at the Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management at the University of Bamako, Mali’s capital.

“I want to develop…policies that leave behind theoretical debates to deal concretely with the real problems of Malians,” she told IPS, noting that while environmental degradation in Mali was serious, it had been “only marginally raised in electoral debates”.

“My motivation stems from this indifference. Our development must be based on balanced ecosystems,” Diallo added. “Mali will have to make important environmental choices during the next five years, taking into account the fragility of its ecosystem in the regions of the north as well as in the south.”

Her priorities include halting deforestation in the vast West African country, of which large parts – particularly in the north – are already desert. Campaigning under the slogan ‘Development must be sustainable for present and future generations’, Diallo also wants to push for policies that promote renewable energy sources, research alternative ways of dealing with urban pollution – and improve health conditions.

It’s a strategy that isn’t winning over everyone.

“She just wants to get herself noticed, and perhaps win a Nobel Prize for her defence of the environment,” says Aliou Koné, a young, unemployed law graduate in Bamako – possibly in reference to Kenyan politician Wangari Maathai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts to protect human rights and the environment.

“We want concrete proposals from her on…unemployment and poverty. The environment comes after all this.”

Diallo may not even be able to count on a constituency that some could assume was hers for the taking: women.

For the moment, the Co-ordinated Women’s Associations and NGOs of Mali (Coordination des associations et ONG féminines du Mali, CAFO) is providing her with limited support – this after she pledged to promote women’s rights if elected, in addition to working for protection of the environment.

“It’s the first time in Mali that a woman is aspiring to the top office,” Fatim Maïga, in charge of gender issues at CAFO, told IPS, noting that for “symbolic reasons” and because she’d taken up the challenge, Aminata Diallo deserved the support of women.

But Coulibaly Fanta Kéita, another CAFO activist, is sceptical about Diallo’s chances: “Malian women, for the most part, will vote for the outgoing president, Amadou Toumani Touré, because of what he has done for women – notably (introducing) free Caesarean deliveries, anti-retrovirals and low cost housing.”

Some 10,000 people now receive anti-retroviral treatment (estimates on the website of the Joint United Nations Programme for HIV/AIDS put the number of adults infected with HIV in Mali at about 110,000). Under Touré, who hopes to return to office for a second five-year term, about 3,500 low cost housing units have been built.

Kéita forms part of a group of women that organised collections amongst women to pay Touré’s election registration fee of about 20,000 dollars.

In addition to overcoming scepticism, Diallo also has to do battle with custom.

“Mali is a patriarchal society, and men take a dim view of women having positions of leadership and responsibility. (But) it’s just a question of time (before) attitudes change,” Alhassane Maïga, a sociologist based in Bamako, told IPS.

“Before, it was inconceivable to send girls to school. But we have today, in Mali, women managers, heads of business, ministers, and even heads of households.”

Notes Ousmane Coulibaly, a politician and member of the Alliance for Democracy and Progress (Alliance pour la démocratie et le progrès), “This (Diallo’s candidacy) shows the maturity of our democracy. A woman president, for me, could be a good thing.”

“We must reckon with women (being part of the political process) from now on.”

The Alliance is supporting Touré, even though the president is running as an independent.

Eight candidates will contest the Apr. 29 election. In the event that none wins a majority of votes in this poll, a second ballot will take place May 13 between the two candidates who obtain the highest number of votes in the first round of polling.

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Apr 13 2007 (IPS)

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.

“If nothing is done to reverse this trend, the difference between supply and demand for wood will be negative by 2010,” predicts the ‘2006 Report on the State of the Environment’, issued by government.

But, reducing wood consumption in this West African country is something of a Herculean task, given the key role it plays in helping Mali meet energy requirements.

According to Niarga Keita, national coordinator of the Environmental Programme to Support the Fight Against Desertification (Programme environnemental d’appui à la lutte contre la désertification), 80 to 90 percent of Malians depend on natural resources for their daily needs. “In fact, the entire economy of the country relies on these natural resources,” says Kéita.

Notes Awa Sow Cissé, executive director of the NGOs Co-operation and Support Council (Conseil de concertation et d’appui aux ONG): “To do her cooking, the Malian woman burns large quantities of wood often chopped by wood cutters who have only the sale of this wood to feed their families.” The council groups 172 non-governmental organisations, all involved in the fight against desertification in Mali.

Then there are entrenched beliefs about the availability of wood.

“Until now, popular belief has had it that forest resources are a gift from God on which you can draw as much as you want, and that God will provide for their replenishment,” says sociologist Hamidou Coulibaly. As a result, people use wood in an “excessive and lawless way”.

A June 2004 law has sought to protect certain forest species against excessive cutting; these include the oil palm, African fan palm, gum tree, shea tree and mahogany tree, says the national director of nature conservation, Félix Dakouo.

Government has also suspended the export of wood obtained from living trees since 2004, while only the sale of dead wood is to be permitted from now on (the removal of this wood does not constitute a threat to forest survival).

In addition, authorities have organised awareness raising campaigns for women – and indicated their willingness to support projects initiated by women that are aimed at preventing the uncontrolled chopping of trees, especially living trees.

Similar activities have been undertaken by civil society.

The executive secretary of the Co-ordinated Women’s Associations and NGOs of Mali (Coordination des associations et ONG féminines du Mali), Traoré Oumou Touré, has started a programme to encourage women to make greater use of energy-efficient stoves, which use four to five times less wood than traditional stoves.

In addition, she is helping women persuade their husbands to stop chopping down living trees.

But, problems persist.

“Those who exploit forests are only interested in wood from living trees which is used to make charcoal or furniture, amongst other things. This wood is chopped down without any distinction being made between species,” says Dakouo.

The current situation led Environment Minister Nancouma Kéita to strike a gloomy note at the opening of a forum on the environment held recently in Ségou, south-western Mali: “Our ecosystems are no longer respected today. Neither Ségou, nor Mali, deserves such treatment from their children.”

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Mar 28 2007 (IPS)

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.

“Forested areas are today giving way to the savannah in Mali,” says Sory Haïdara, head of the Project for Sustainable Management of Forests (Projet de gestion durable des forêts).

Widespread reliance on wood to meet energy needs is partly to blame. The 2005 report showed that about 500,000 hectares of land are deforested every year for this purpose. At the same time, woodlands are being encroached on by farmers: the amount of land under cultivation in Mali is increasing by 4.7 percent annually, at the expense of forests.

The situation in Faya forest, a protected area north of the capital – Bamako – is a case in point.

“Faya is today the object of…uncontrolled exploitation by communities. It is under great pressure from farmers; then, bush fires sometimes ravage what people and animals have not destroyed,” says Haïdara, noting that some 300 families now live in the forest.

In Morilabougou forest, a protected area in southern Mali, matters are scarcely better.

“Big wild animals like lions and deer used to inhabit this forest. Numerous species of birds and small game also lived there,” recalls Amadou Bagayogo, a hunter from the area.

Now, farmers are taking their place.

“Cotton farming, practiced extensively in the Sikasso Circle, is a leading factor in the deterioration of the forest,” says Mamadou Diakité, a forestry official in the Sikasso Circle. This region contains more than half of Mali’s forests, and includes five protected areas.

Diakité believes local authorities have become complicit in the occupation and destruction of wooded areas by providing certain resources needed for agriculture to farmers living in the heart of the forest.

According to statistics from regional nature conservation services in Sikasso, the amount of land being farmed in Morilabougou forest is some 582 hectares – or 4.5 percent of its surface area.

In a bid to put an end to the destruction of the Morilabougoula forest, residants of the Kignan community have drafted a local convention for forest management. The document aims to ensure controlled exploitation of the forest; implementation of the convention will be a collective responsibility.

Previously, nature conservation officials signed contracts that allowed communities to manage forests themselves. Although this local involvement helped prevent widespread logging, the contracts were ultimately terminated.

The Kignan initiative has been welcomed by Environment Minister Nancouma Kéita, who nonetheless noted the role of his office in protecting forests: “The restoration of the forest heritage is a responsibility of the state, and we are working hard at it.”

Some have accused officials of poor forest supervision.

But, Kéita has promised that in the course of 2007, authorities will put in place a code of conduct concerning forests, to promote good conservation of woodlands for future generations.

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Dec 26 2006 (IPS)

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?

Barry Aminata Touré of the Debt and Development Coalition was an optimist ahead of the forum in Mali’s capital (see ‘WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Cynicism and Hope Ahead of the Bamako Gathering’), and the meeting did not disillusion her.

“The polycentric forum of Bamako was a success for us, because it reinforced the creation of networks and partnerships between different African movements,” said Aminata Touré, who is president of the coalition, a non-governmental organisation based in Bamako.

Similar words come from Mamadou Goita, one of three coordinators at the WSF National Organising Committee in Mali.

“At a personal level, the Bamako forum allowed me to expand my network of contacts. Since then, I’m invited just about everywhere on the continent as a result of themes developed during the forum (and) through campaigns on alternative education against debt, Economic Partnership Agreements…” he told IPS, noting further that the quality of debate at the Bamako meeting had made it a success.

Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) are meant to enter into force by the start of 2008 to make trade between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States compatible with World Trade Organisation rules. The EPAs will require European goods to be given access to markets in ACP countries, some of which fear they will not be able to withstand competition from the imports.

Traoré Oumou Touré, executive secretary of the Coordinated Women’s Associations and Non-governmental Organisations of Mali, also pointed to the international perspective provided by the 2006 WSF when asked for her impressions of the gathering.

“The forum enabled our activists to know that everywhere in Africa and elsewhere, our problems are the same: we (women) are in the majority…However, we are marginalised, under-represented and uninvolved,” she said.

In the run up to the Bamako forum, Oumou Touré said the challenge for her organisation was to have “greater women’s participation in this fight (against marginalisation) – and above all to show that women have to be actors in world affairs, rather than submit to them.”

Looking back on the gathering, she noted that the principal lesson drawn from the forum was that “the improvement of conditions of our lives will only be achieved in the context of a synergy of action, and a steadfastness in the fight.”

Sékou Berthé, a Malian small-scale farmer who participated in the Bamako WSF, took home a different lesson.

“We did not know in the beginning that with the introduction of GMOs (genetically modified organisms), we are going to lose our food sovereignty and be more dependent on Western firms,” he told IPS. “The forum opened our eyes.”

For Nouhoum Kéita, a Malian activist, the 2006 WSF underscored what he already knew: “The forum reaffirmed my conviction to pursue the fight and show the soundness of the arguments that we are putting forward concerning neoliberal policies, the militarisation of international relations and the blockage of any prospect of independent development.”

However, a good number of Malians who would like to relive the achievement of this year’s forum may find themselves unable to do so during 2007 in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, where the next WSF is scheduled to take place from Jan. 20-25.

“The World Social Forum of Nairobi will be difficult in terms of mobilisation, the cost of the air ticket – 800,000 CFA francs (about 1,600 dollars) – and visa problems,” Aminata Touré told IPS.

These concerns are shared by others. “Nairobi must be an extension of Bamako…and for its success, organisations must search for and obtain a large participation at the level of the continent to deepen the themes that were debated in Bamako,” said Kéita.

While more than 21,000 people attended the 2006 WSF, according to Goita, some 150,000 delegates are expected in Nairobi.

The 2007 forum will mark the first instance in which an African country is serving as sole host of the WSF. This year the meeting was held in several cities – Bamako, the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, and the Pakistani financial centre, Karachi – causing it to be dubbed a “polycentric” gathering.

The WSF was established in 2001 as an alternative to the World Economic Forum, an annual gathering in the Swiss resort town of Davos that attracts business and political leaders. It has mostly been held in the Brazilian town of Porto Alegre, bringing together mainly groups and individuals from civil society that oppose globalisation in its present form.

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Oct 11 2006 (IPS)

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.

These Spanish enclaves, situated on the Moroccan coastline, are seen by many migrants as a way to gain entry to Europe – and a better life.

“A year ago, we returned from hell…hearts bruised, martyred, sometimes maimed,” said Mamadou Kéita, president of ‘Return – Work – Dignity’ (Retour – Travail – Dignité).

This association was created in October 2005 with support from the ‘Forum for Another Mali’ (Forum pour un autre Mali, FORAM), a coalition of non-governmental organisations and Malian civil society groups. ‘Return – Work – Dignity’ includes about 200 Malians expelled from Ceuta and Melilla.

Now, certain migrants are trying to find another way to escape the poverty and unemployment that made life in Europe beckon.

“Since our return to the country, we are working hard to rebuild our dignity through workshops for carpentry, basket making, jewelry manufacture and painting,” said Adama Coulibaly of ‘Return – Work – Dignity’.

Noted Kéita, “Two weeks ago, we obtained an order from a Japanese woman that was worth two million CFA francs (about 4,000 dollars), for baskets.”

“A year ago, we were frightened and ashamed. Now, the shame has disappeared because we have work.”

In recent days, those involved in events at Ceuta and Melilla and several others have also had an opportunity to share experiences – this at a gathering convened by FORAM in the Malian capital, Bamako, to commemorate the events and discuss how to avoid having them repeated.

Survivors of desperate attempts to gain entry to the two enclaves gave moving accounts of their journeys northwards to Morocco through the Sahara desert, and what they subsequently underwent.

“We left our families and our countries with a burning desire to succeed…The idea to emigrate would not have touched our spirit if we had had work here,” said Alfousseyni Kampo, a young Malian migrant.

Observed Clarice Soh, a young Cameroonian: “In the desert, the suffering is indescribable; there are rapes, unwanted pregnancies, births, suicides.”

“In Morocco, we often rummage in dustbins to survive.”

The first two days of the Sep. 29 to Oct. 7 meeting were characterised by meditation, prayer and religious songs; according to organisers of the gathering, relatives of the victims of events in Ceuta and Melilla and others who died of thirst and hunger in the desert had expressed the need for this type of contemplation.

From Oct. 2 to 7, round tables and workshops were organised to analyse, on a country-by-country basis, the causes of African migration to Europe.

For Aminata Dramane Traoré, former minister of culture in Mali and a leader of FORAM, the exodus has its roots in the policies and structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) imposed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

These programmes were introduced some three decades ago in a bid to improve the economies of states that had asked for assistance from the two financial institutions, and included requirements for privatisation, the elimination of price controls and lifting of trade barriers. Instead of leading to improvements, however, SAPs have often been associated with further economic decline.

To stem migration, said Dramane Traoré, it was necessary to “create conditions for work, eliminate subsidies and agricultural dumping, and stop the looting of the resources in Africa.”

Agricultural subsidies paid to producers in wealthy nations price their competitors in Africa out of the market. Cotton farmers in West Africa, including those in Mali, have been especially affected by support given to cotton producers in the United States.

Some partaking in the meeting also exchanged experiences concerning reintegration into society, while others denounced French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkosy’s policy of selective immigration – said to be contributing to the “brain drain” that is seeing many of Africa’s best minds leave for greener pastures.

“Sarkosy must not make a mistake about (what constitutes) war and enemies…Africans who leave for Europe are not criminals, but are in search of opportunities and justice,” complained Jean Kamta, a Cameroonian national, and manager of the ‘Victims of Emigration Reunited’ association (Victimes – émigration réunie). This group is made up of Cameroonian, Ivorian, Togolese, Nigerian and Ghanaian migrants.

The approximately 400 participants of the meeting also included José Bové – renowned opponent of genetically-modified crops and leader of the French Peasants Confederation (Confédération paysanne) – and relatives of two young Guineans, Fodé Tounkara and Yaguine Koita, who died while stowing away in the landing gear of a Sabena aircraft in 1999 as they were trying to enter Europe illegally.

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Jan 17 2006 (IPS)

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.

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.

“This forum will not lead to anything; we’ll just hear the same speeches,” says Aliou Traoré, a teacher in the capital of Bamako where the gathering is being held.

“Before, it was politicians putting us to sleep with their words – now it’s those who question globalisation who are doing so.”

However, Barry Aminata Touré, president of the Debt and Development Coalition, disagrees.

“It’s as a result of…those who are sceptical about globalisation that the major Western powers have changed their positions on the debt of countries in the South, and on cotton,” she says.

This is in reference to the price-distorting subsidies received by cotton producers in wealthy nations, especially the United States, which have crippled farmers in West Africa. The word “South” refers to developing countries – including those outside the southern hemisphere.

Given what has been achieved by globalisation sceptics, adds Touré, meetings such as the one in Bamako serve a purpose.

The WSF is an annual event that was started in 2001 as an alternative to the World Economic Forum, held in the Swiss town of Davos. While the economic forum is attended by members of the business and political elite who are widely viewed as supporting globalisation, the WSF mainly attracts civil society groups which vigorously oppose it. A broad range of issues, ranging from environmental degradation to the plight of indigenous peoples, is discussed at the forum.

The WSF took place away from the Brazilian town of Porto Alegre for the first time in 2004, when it was hosted by the Indian coastal city of Mumbai.

Bamako’s forum (Jan. 19 to 23) is the first to be held in Africa. Two additional WSFs will also take place later this year in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas – and the Pakistani financial centre of Karachi.

If Aly Coulibaly, a small-scale cotton farmer, has anything to say on the matter, cotton subsidies will continue to feature prominently during the Bamako WSF. He and several others form part of peasant groups which have traveled from central Mali to participate in the forum.

“We’ve come to defend our cotton and fight against subsidies,” he said. “Cotton is all-important for us, and we’re going to defend it – even if this costs us our lives.”

Simply giving speeches on the matter is no longer sufficient, added Coulibaly.

“We’ve come to march, to show the world’s leading powers – especially the Americans – that their policies are unfair…that their decisions are endangering the lives of millions of people.”

For Aminata Dramane Traoré, a writer and former cabinet minister, the success of Mali’s WSF hinges on whether it can galvanise Africans to take action concerning the negative effects of globalisation.

“The Bamako forum must lead to an awareness that Africa is central to the issues under debate. Africa must take ownership of the fight (against unfettered globalisation).”

Youth organisations hope the WSF will lead to greater involvement of young people in global events – particularly those that concern the future of the youth. At present says Souley Ibrahim, spokesman for youth at the WSF, young people from Mali and elsewhere in Africa are greatly under-represented in decision-making structures – including those created for WSFs.

“This is why we’re organising a youth camp alongside the forum,” he told IPS.

The camp is named after former Burkinabé leader Thomas Sankara who assumed the presidency via a military coup in 1983, but also introduced a number of progressive policies before being assassinated in 1987. These included efforts to fight corruption, curb the power of tribal leaders, and advance women.

According to Ibrahim, youths who attend will not be offered traditional camp activities such as reforestation and environmental clean-ups.

“This camp is innovative in that it will allocate considerable time to debates under the auspices of a ‘Forum for World Youth’ – something aimed at giving young people a chance to speak,” he adds. “The ‘Forum for World Youth’ will discuss all matters that concern the youth, and those who are fighting (the global order).”

Malian women are also hoping to be active in the Bamako WSF.

“Although we represent more than 52 percent of the population in Mali, we are marginalised, under-represented and excluded…However, all the decisions that men take about family, social and even political matters concern and affect us,” says Traoré Oumou Touré, executive secretary of the coordinating body for women’s non-governmental associations and organisations (NGOs) in Mali.

Touré says this body, which groups almost 500 associations and NGOs, understood instantly what would be required to make a mark at the WSF.

“We have asked our supporters to register for activities on all issues. The challenge, for us, is to have greater women’s participation in this fight – and above all to show that women have to be actors in world affairs, rather than submit to them.”

Speak to Mali’s business people, souvenir sellers and hotel owners, however, and the concern is less about whether the WSF will alter the shape of world politics – and more about whether it will prove a windfall for the country.

“I hope that we see a lot of business as a result of this forum,” Hamidou Konaté, an antique dealer at the Bamako craft market, told IPS.

Some already appear to be reaping benefits from the WSF.

“I’ve earned 10,000 CFA francs (about 20 dollars) a day since yesterday – as opposed to 1,000 to 2,000 CFA francs (two to four dollars),” said Mariam Doumbia, Tuesday. She sells doughnuts in front of the Modibo Keita sports stadium in Bamako, where the youth camp has been set up.

In addition to hundreds of activists, a number of celebrities and well-known politicians are also expected to make an appearance at the Bamako WSF. These include civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and actor Danny Glover, both from the United States, and Danielle Mitterrand: wife of deceased French president François Mitterrand.

“As far as organisation (for the meeting) goes, we are ready,” Mamadou Goita told IPS. He is one of three co-ordinators for the WSF’s national organising committee.

With the second African WSF already scheduled to take place in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, in 2007, the hope is that events in Bamako will prove Goita right.

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Jan 17 2006 (IPS)

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.

“This forum will not lead to anything; we’ll just hear the same speeches,” says Aliou Traoré, a teacher in the capital of Bamako where the gathering is being held.

“Before, it was politicians putting us to sleep with their words – now it’s those who question globalisation who are doing so.”

However, Barry Aminata Touré, president of the Debt and Development Coalition, disagrees.

“It’s as a result of…those who are sceptical about globalisation that the major Western powers have changed their positions on the debt of countries in the South, and on cotton,” she says.

This is in reference to the price-distorting subsidies received by cotton producers in wealthy nations, especially the United States, which have crippled farmers in West Africa. The word “South” refers to developing countries – including those outside the southern hemisphere.

Given what has been achieved by globalisation sceptics, adds Touré, meetings such as the one in Bamako serve a purpose.

The WSF is an annual event that was started in 2001 as an alternative to the World Economic Forum, held in the Swiss town of Davos. While the economic forum is attended by members of the business and political elite who are widely viewed as supporting globalisation, the WSF mainly attracts civil society groups which vigorously oppose it. A broad range of issues, ranging from environmental degradation to the plight of indigenous peoples, is discussed at the forum.

The WSF took place away from the Brazilian town of Porto Alegre for the first time in 2004, when it was hosted by the Indian coastal city of Mumbai.

Bamako’s forum (Jan. 19 to 23) is the first to be held in Africa. Two additional WSFs will also take place later this year in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas – and the Pakistani financial centre of Karachi.

If Aly Coulibaly, a small-scale cotton farmer, has anything to say on the matter, cotton subsidies will continue to feature prominently during the Bamako WSF. He and several others form part of peasant groups which have traveled from central Mali to participate in the forum.

“We’ve come to defend our cotton and fight against subsidies,” he said. “Cotton is all-important for us, and we’re going to defend it – even if this costs us our lives.”

Simply giving speeches on the matter is no longer sufficient, added Coulibaly.

“We’ve come to march, to show the world’s leading powers – especially the Americans – that their policies are unfair…that their decisions are endangering the lives of millions of people.”

For Aminata Dramane Traoré, a writer and former cabinet minister, the success of Mali’s WSF hinges on whether it can galvanise Africans to take action concerning the negative effects of globalisation.

“The Bamako forum must lead to an awareness that Africa is central to the issues under debate. Africa must take ownership of the fight (against unfettered globalisation).”

Youth organisations hope the WSF will lead to greater involvement of young people in global events – particularly those that concern the future of the youth. At present says Souley Ibrahim, spokesman for youth at the WSF, young people from Mali and elsewhere in Africa are greatly under-represented in decision-making structures – including those created for WSFs.

“This is why we’re organising a youth camp alongside the forum,” he told IPS.

The camp is named after former Burkinabé leader Thomas Sankara who assumed the presidency via a military coup in 1983, but also introduced a number of progressive policies before being assassinated in 1987. These included efforts to fight corruption, curb the power of tribal leaders, and advance women.

According to Ibrahim, youths who attend will not be offered traditional camp activities such as reforestation and environmental clean-ups.

“This camp is innovative in that it will allocate considerable time to debates under the auspices of a ‘Forum for World Youth’ – something aimed at giving young people a chance to speak,” he adds. “The ‘Forum for World Youth’ will discuss all matters that concern the youth, and those who are fighting (the global order).”

Malian women are also hoping to be active in the Bamako WSF.

“Although we represent more than 52 percent of the population in Mali, we are marginalised, under-represented and excluded…However, all the decisions that men take about family, social and even political matters concern and affect us,” says Traoré Oumou Touré, executive secretary of the coordinating body for women’s non-governmental associations and organisations (NGOs) in Mali.

Touré says this body, which groups almost 500 associations and NGOs, understood instantly what would be required to make a mark at the WSF.

“We have asked our supporters to register for activities on all issues. The challenge, for us, is to have greater women’s participation in this fight – and above all to show that women have to be actors in world affairs, rather than submit to them.”

Speak to Mali’s business people, souvenir sellers and hotel owners, however, and the concern is less about whether the WSF will alter the shape of world politics – and more about whether it will prove a windfall for the country.

“I hope that we see a lot of business as a result of this forum,” Hamidou Konaté, an antique dealer at the Bamako craft market, told IPS.

Some already appear to be reaping benefits from the WSF.

“I’ve earned 10,000 CFA francs (about 20 dollars) a day since yesterday – as opposed to 1,000 to 2,000 CFA francs (two to four dollars),” said Mariam Doumbia, Tuesday. She sells doughnuts in front of the Modibo Keita sports stadium in Bamako, where the youth camp has been set up.

In addition to hundreds of activists, a number of celebrities and well-known politicians are also expected to make an appearance at the Bamako WSF. These include civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and actor Danny Glover, both from the United States, and Danielle Mitterrand: wife of deceased French president François Mitterrand.

“As far as organisation (for the meeting) goes, we are ready,” Mamadou Goita told IPS. He is one of three co-ordinators for the WSF’s national organising committee.

With the second African WSF already scheduled to take place in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, in 2007, the hope is that events in Bamako will prove Goita right.

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Aug 24 2004 (IPS)

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.

Beginning last month, the export of firewood will also be outlawed during this period. Most of Mali’s wood exports go to neighbouring Mauritania.

“From now on loggers are going to have to make do with dead trees, the culling of which will improve our forests,” says Environment Minister Nancouma Keita.

At present, about 400,000 hectares of land are deforested annually to produce firewood for Malians, who use six million tonnes of this fuel every year. A 2000 study by the National Office of Energy showed that firewood is used for almost all domestic heating needs in Mali.

In light of statistics such as these, “doing nothing (about deforestation) means that the future of our children is in danger,” said Ousmane Keita, a retired logger, in an interview with IPS. Some 10 percent of Mali’s surface area is forested (while the north of the country is composed of Saharan desert).

Authorities were prodded into taking action on logging by a meeting between subsistence farmers and Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure in the central town of Mopti, in June. In the course of this gathering, the farmers voiced fears about the extent to which Mali’s arable land was being turned into desert.

“To guarantee that the new provisions are enforced, monitoring squads will be crisscrossing logging areas, especially forest and brush areas,” Alpha Aly of the National Office for the Conservation of Nature told IPS.

Adds Felix Dakouo, national director for nature conservation, “There will be no more pity for recalcitrants. From now on, lawbreakers will have to pay the penalties set by law…regarding logging and wood transport.”

“Penalties will range from fines of 5,000 to 50,000 CFA francs (about nine to 95 dollars) and 10 days to a month in prison,” says Dakouo. Chainsaws could also be seized, he told IPS, and the vehicles used to transport wood impounded.

Aly admits that Mali does not have the resources to monitor wooded areas around the clock. But, he adds, “We know where the most important sites are, where irresponsible logging takes place.”

Aboua Camara, a firewood retailer in the capital, Bamako, takes a less optimistic view.

“Even if it is illegal, people will continue chopping down trees because that’s their livelihood,” he noted.

The difficulties posed by safeguarding forests have left some nostalgic for the rule of former dictator Moussa Traore, in the 1980s. While Keita acknowledges that the leader often acted harshly, he notes that forestry teams which were active under Traore were effective in preventing irresponsible logging.

These teams, composed of soldiers acting as forest wardens, monitored all wooded sites – and issued large fines against offending loggers, sometimes even beating them.

Hamidou Minta, a researcher at the Rural Polytechnic Institute, takes another view.

“We must avoid adopting bad forest conservation policies, such as those used in the past, that start from the premise that (deforestation) is ‘caused by poor people’,” he notes, adding “In the 1980s, for example, a draconian set of measures was put in place by the forestry service concerning the use of forests by local communities.”

Minta says these unpopular policies were vigorously resisted by those who lived around wooded areas, as they found themselves deprived of an important part of their livelihood.

“This initiative was ultimately abandoned, with no positive result,” observes Minta.

The government’s latest conservation efforts appear to be meeting wth some success.

Boundouga Keita – assistant director of the forestry station at Niamana, near the capital of Bamako – told IPS that even allowing for the onset of the rainy season, considerably less wood and charcoal were being taken into the city.

Niamana is one of the main transit points for wood that is delivered from Zantiguila and Manakoro, about 240 kilometres south of Bamako – and from Kassela, 60 kilometres south-west of the capital.

Unaware of the ban on logging live trees, certain persons interviewed by IPS in Bamako believed the higher prices now being charged for wood and charcoal were the result of winter shortages.

“A bag of charcoal which normally sells for 3,000 CFA francs (almost six dollars) went up to 4,500 or 5,000 CFA francs (more than eight or nine dollars) or even more in certain areas of the capital,” Fanta Keita Ballo, a housewife from the suburb of Badalabougou said.

This situation has prompted dire warnings from the likes of Alou Kanté, who transports charcoal.

“If this continues, Bamako will experience a shortage of wood – because the amount that is available at rural markets is not sufficient to meet demand,” he claims.

But, Dakouo dismisses these fears. “Our studies have shown that stocks of wood and charcoal are sufficient to cater for the period of the bans,” he said during a recent press conference in the capital.

A question that still begs asking, however, is whether Mali is developing the use of alternative energy sources by its citizens – or technologies that make the use of wood more efficient.

According to Dakouo, an alternative that has been experimented with over the past decade is an improved version of the stove, made out of local materials such as mud bricks.

The use of this stove “reduces the amount of wood or charcoal used for domestic energy needs,” he said – although no detailed study has yet been done on this device.

Salimata Coulibaly, president of the Malian Consumers’ Association, says gas has also come under discussion as a possible alternative to wood – but that its use remains limited at the moment.

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Aug 13 2004 (IPS)

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.

“Since January 2002, there’s not been one case of neonatal or maternal mortality in Zegoua or any other nearby village,” Yaya Coulibaly, director of the Zegoua Community Health Centre, told a group of local and international journalists recently.

The centre caters for nine villages, which are divided into 16 zones. Zegoua is located almost 500 kilometres south of the Malian capital, Bamako – near the country’s border with the Ivory Coast.

According to Coulibaly, the secret of the area’s success in reducing neonatal and maternal mortality lies in the determination of its women to tackle these problems. They have organized themselves into teams for taking charge of their health care.

“In spite of their meager financial resources, these women pay the fees for postnatal consultations, vaccinations and family planning,” Coulibaly said.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), an average of 1,530 women fall pregnant every day in Mali. Of these, 230 experience complications during pregnancy, while 20 die. About 100 of the children they deliver also die. In addition, several women develop serious postnatal conditions such as fistulas and descended uteruses.

Before the women of Zegoua and its surroundings started grouping together to address these problems, the approach that some had to healthcare was a little haphazard.

“We never thought about our health problems,” says Mariam Ouatara, from the village of Katele, adding that scarce funds were sometimes spent on entertainment. “After these big parties, some of us couldn’t even afford to pay the 100 CFA francs (about 18 cents) it costs for a simple vaccination card.”

The women have now formed groups that plant cotton, peanuts and rice. A share of the revenues generated by these crops is used to pay for consultations to check on the health of babies and new mothers, and to discuss family planning issues. The funds also extend to vaccinations, and buying drugs for treating malaria.

In the event that severe problems develop during a pregnancy, the coordinator of each village team must ensure that the woman concerned is transferred to a clinic that is equipped to deal with such emergencies.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, nearly 600,000 African women die each year as a result of complications resulting from pregnancy, or those experienced during childbirth.

In recognition of the extent of obstetric problems, Mali’s government joined UNICEF, the UN Population Fund, the WHO and other organisations to hold the “Vision 2010” conference in Bamako in 2001, on neonatal and maternal mortality.

The regional secretary of the Pan-African Organisation of Women, Ichata Sahi Alwata, told IPS that it was important for men to realise they also had a role to play in addressing pregnancy-related problems. “We want to help men get more involved in this struggle,” she said.

“Everyone knows that men are the decision-makers, both within the family and in society. Women have to get men to agree if they’re going to go to the health centre or pay for a prescription,” she added. “For all these reasons, it’s very important for us to involve men in this fight.”

The problem of maternal mortality is also addressed by the UN’s eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a series of targets that were agreed on by global leaders at a millennium summit held in 2000.

One of the MDGs stipulates that maternal mortality should be reduced by three-quarters by 2015 – something that Zegoua has already achieved. (Other goals include reducing the mortality rate of children under five by two-thirds, ensuring universal primary education – and halving the number of people who live on less than a dollar a day.)

According to statistics compiled by the World Bank, women living in sub-Saharan African countries with high national fertility rates, have a one-in-16 chance of dying when they fall pregnant, give birth – or develop postnatal complications.

In European countries that have low fertility, this risk has been massively reduced. Only one-in-2000 women in these nations suffer from the same difficulties that plague their African counterparts. For North America, the figure is one-in-3,500.

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Jun 8 2004 (IPS)

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.

This is despite the fact that it is remarkably simple to prevent the parasite’s larvae from entering the body. All that is needed is a water filter.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) representative in Mali, Frances Turner, guinea worm is “a horrible disease that can be easily prevented by adopting certain hygienic measures, or by just filtering the water (used for drinking).” Guinea worm larvae are carried by a flea found in standing water.

Complete eradication of the parasite has been difficult, say officials, because it can be nigh impossible to change people’s behaviour – even when it comes to the apparently simple matter of getting them to use filters.

Aminata Ongoiba, a resident of Niagassadiou village in Mopti, believes that guinea worm is the result of a “divine curse” – a fatalism that doubtless makes new hygiene procedures appear beside the point.

Rural poverty is also to blame. Many villagers are not able to purchase a new filter when the one they are using no longer works properly.

In addition, the rapid encroachment of the Sahara makes it difficult to drill new boreholes in Mopti – while the three which were established have long been out of order because of mechanical problems.

According to Souleymane Ongoiba, the mayor of the rural Mondoro town council, which includes Niagassadiou, the delay in repairs is due to negligence on the part of certain authorities. As a result, people have no choice but to use polluted wells.

Niagassadiou appears to have been particularly hard hit by guinea worm. This development has been ascribed by some to the fact that people who fall ill with the parasite refuse to speak about their infections – even though they use the same water points as their neighbours.

To ease the pain caused by the emergence of a worm, people often submerge the affected part of the body in water. This allows the worm to enter the water source, and release millions of new larvae into it: ideal conditions for the spread of guinea worm.

Other villages have adopted the practice of recording and quarantining those infected with guinea worm. They have also been more consistent in filtering their water.

However, Niagassadiou may well set other parts of the country back in the fight to eradicate the parasite.

“The problem with this village is that it exports the disease to other parts of the country – Timbuktu, Gao, Kidal, Bamako – and abroad too, especially to Burkina Faso,” Issa Degoga, national coordinator of Mali’s guinea worm eradication programme, told IPS.

Many of Niagassadiou’s young people leave the village in search of work or a better life – with up to 70 percent heading for neighbouring Burkina Faso, just 26 kilometres away. These young migrants take guinea worm with them, infecting the water supplies of other localities.

In 2003 alone, there were 15 recorded instances of guinea worm being ‘exported’ from Niagassadiou. Eleven cases were reported in Burkina Faso, one in a district of the capital, Bamako, two in the region of Gao, and one in Kidal in northern Mali.

As a result, authorities have stepped up eradication efforts in the village.

Free water filters are being distributed to every household in Niagassadiou. Ponds in the area are also being treated with Abate, an insecticide that kills guinea worm larvae, to prevent the parasite from spreading further once the rainy season gets underway.

Eradication efforts prompted the number of guinea worm cases in Mali to drop from 5,581 to 290 between 1994 and 2000, according to Degoga. However, there was a resurgence of the disease in 2003, with 829 cases reported.

In Niagassadiou there were 10 cases in 2002, while in 2003 that number jumped to 23.

The eradication programme receives most of its annual funding (more than 460,000 dollars) from UNICEF. The Carter Centre, run by former American president Jimmy Carter, provides the programme with water filters.

Last May, authorities and development partners organised a day of social action (May 5) to increase awareness of the need to eradicate guinea worm. Government has set itself the goal of having “zero cases by the year 2005”.

As yet, there is no cure for someone who carries the parasite – and no medicine to prevent infection. While the worm can be surgically removed, many people are obliged to wind it around a small stick as it emerges, pulling it out of the body at little bit at a time. This painful process can take weeks – or even months, during which the blisters risk becoming infected.

As guinea worms frequently emerge on the legs or feet, the extraction of them can also leave a person crippled. Furthermore, the process can cause children to stay out of school, and keep adults out of the fields during harvest time.

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Mar 3 2004 (IPS)

“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.

He was speaking at an international water conference that took place in the capital, Bamako, towards the end of last month. But despite this optimism, the difficulties of meeting Mali’s water needs should not be underestimated.

Two of the biggest rivers in West Africa run through the country: the Niger, for a distance of 1,780 kilometeres – and the Senegal, for 700 kilometres.

Ahmed Semega, the Minister of Mines, Energy, and Water, describes the Niger as the “umbilical cord which links seven of our administrative regions. The lives of several million of our countrymen depend on it.”

But, he adds, “This precious engine of economic, social and cultural development is today in danger of dying.” Pollution is to blame.

According to Semega, much of Bamako’s daily production of 2,000 cubic metres of dirty water flows back into the Niger. “The flora, fauna and ecosystem are all subjected to this harsh pollution,” he said at the conference.

This has prompted conservation groups like the Bamako-based Karamba Toure Association to call for more stringent controls on the factories responsible for this situation – particularly those that release chemical wastes into the environment. The group believes a policy of “you pollute, you pay” should be instituted.

In those instances where clean water is available, getting hold of it can be a chore.

“Everyone knows that it is the harsh burden of women to go fetch water daily in rural areas,” said Traore Oumou Toure, executive secretary of a committee that coordinates the activities of women’s groups and non-governmental organisations in Mali. This situation seriously endangers any type of sustainable development, she adds.

Malick Maiga, who is in charge of Mali’s water supply, says 62 percent of people in the country have access to sufficient water at present.

But, says President Toure, “Although progress has been made, there still remains much to do to entirely satisfy potable water needs.”

“There are still 2,226 villages, parts of villages and rural areas which don’t have modern water access points.”

A further 3,400 villages require more water points than they have at present. Salinity and nitrogen compounds found in the north-east and west of Mali have also presented a challenge to authorities, as these chemicals make some of the water there unfit for human consumption.

All of this has prompted Toumani Toure to press for the speedy adoption of a national plan that will see 10,000 new water points being established within a decade.

“Our access plan to potable water is based on the premise that we can surpass the goals set by the Millennium Development Summit to meet half of humanity’s needs in potable water by the year 2015,” said the head of state.

This summit, held at the United Nations in September 2000, established eight goals for improving the lives of people living in developing countries. Included in these Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) is the target of halving the number of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015.

The MDG’s also aim to reduce by half the number of people living below the poverty line of a dollar a day. Mali has 10 million inhabitants, 65 percent of whom fall under this threshold.

The international water conference, the first of its type to be held in Mali, ended on Feb. 26. The six-day meeting included a variety of exhibitions and debates that allowed water experts and members of the public to exchange views on water management in Mali.

Certain issues raised at the meeting may get a second hearing at another conference that will reportedly take place in April. The Paris meeting, said to have been initiated by French President Jacques Chirac, will be attended by heads of state from countries that share the Niger river basin. Delegates will discuss how the ills that currently affect the river can be dealt with.

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Feb 20 2004 (IPS)

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.

“I have worked many small jobs (in Mali)…I’ve taken the…exam for the civil service many times, but without success. The time has come for me to try my luck somewhere else,” says 30-year-old Cheikh Keita, a graduate of the National Business School of Bamako, while standing before the French embassy.

Moussa Touré, also without a permanent job, adds “Here, we do not have any real prospects for the future and I think it is better for us to go to Europe where we can have a better life.”

Gaining entry into the U.S. is generally-agreed to be the most difficult procedure, as embassy officials require bank statements guaranteeing the availability of funds before they issue a visa. But, this has not proved an obstacle for people who are desperate to escape Mali’s unemployment and poverty – although it is essential to have contacts in the banking world.

Someone familiar with the visa procedure scoffs, “It’s child’s play. Even if a bank guarantee of 20 million CFA’s (almost 39,000 dollars) were asked, I could get it.” (The CFA – or Communauté financiere africaine – franc is used by a number of France’s former colonies in Africa.)

Those fortunate enough to get a tourist visa often disappear for good once in their country of choice, while others pin their hopes on getting a green card through the U.S. lottery system, which randomly selects 50,000 applicants every year. Because of the relative ease with which a student visa can be obtained, large numbers of Malians also opt to take this path.

A visit to the border police gives another insight into the number of people with their sights set on greener pastures. “We give out about 200 passports a day,” said an immigration police official who declined to give his name.

Officials put the number of Malians living abroad at about four million, which is – astoundingly – almost a third of the country’s population. However, some see this depletion in a positive light.

The President of the High Council of Malians abroad, Dramane Chérif Haidara, says expatriates send home critically-needed funds: “With their numerous financial resources, they’re investing in schools, health centres, literacy centres (and) development.”

A 1997 document from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs notes that Malians living in the diaspora repatriated just over 168 million dollars in 1995 – while almost 130 million dollars were sent home in the first few months of 1996.

This has led authorities to develop a support network for Malians living abroad – and even encourage immigration.

Although French President Jacques Chirac publicly deplored the tide of illegal immigrants pouring into Europe during a visit to Mali last October, his Malian counterpart – Amadou Toumani Touré – did not join in the condemnation.

“Our countrymen contribute decisively to the development of their country,” said Touré. “Every year, they send the equivalent of the total development aid that Mali receives from France.”

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
KIDAL, Northeast Mali, May 14 2003 (IPS)

"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.

"We don’t have the luxury of taking bath every day,” says Aicha Wallet, a resident of Kidal, a town some 1,585 kilometres northeast of Bamako, the capital of Mali.

"To save water, we use less than two litres of water for bathing," she says. ”We don’t have any choice as we prefer to avoid the long queues and the fistfights that always erupt at the water pumps."

Lack of water, says Ikmass, ”has created insecurity in our streets and homes and around the few spots where water is available. Lately, a number of people have been hurt in scuffles over a few litres of water and have been referred to clinic for treatment”.

A tour of the city confirms Ikmass’s fears. Long queues of individuals, assembling around the few water points all day, have made the city to acquire the nickname ”The Three Bs”: barrels, bottles and buckets.

Captain Issa Coulibaly, commander of the city’s gendarmerie force, says fighting often breaks out when someone gets too smart and thinks he can jump the queue.

Others like Fanta Kane Maiga often pay the price for being patience. Maiga, a teacher, says: ”Yesterday evening, my daughter gave birth. Since 5 O’clock in the morning, I’ve been waiting at this pump and haven’t been able to get a single bucket of water with which to wash her linens. It’s a real shame,” she says.

Kidal, which is also known as Adrar des Iforas, is too rocky for agriculture, and too arid for rain. Kidal has a population of 77,000, mostly nomads, who eke out a living on the region’s 260,000-sq-km rough terrain.

”We have always been living with the fear of a permanent water shortage. The scarcity of water always keeps us thirsty, kills us sometimes, ruins our plans, destroys our environment and depopulates our region," says Ikmass.

During the hot season, the temperature, sometimes, climbs over 50 degrees centigrade.

To alleviate the water scarcity, the Minister of Mines, Energy and Water Resources, Ahmed Diane Semega, launched a new project on Apr. 17, by, ceremonially, swinging the pickaxe into the ground to bring potable water to Kidal.

Egleze Ag Foni, the region’s top administrator, says 35 percent of Kidal’s water points are non-functional. ”More than 117 villages out of 200 do not have access to clean running water,” he says. The villagers depend on dilapidated wells, most of which have collapsed, he adds.

”We are very short of water for our agricultural needs. With droughts, the list of wells that have dried up is also getting longer and longer,” he says.

Resourceful families fulfil their daily needs on less than 20 litres of water. A 20-litre tank, which costs 10 CFA (about 1.6 U.S. cents) at the pump, can be resold for between 100 and 500 CFA (between 16 and 83 U.S. cents) to city dwellers, says a water vendor in Kidal.

”Such suffering will soon be a thing of the past once the water project, which we’re working on, is completed,” said Semega, when he visited the city last month. The project will provide the city with potable water, via a 500,000-litre reservoir of pumping station.

It will cost 1.5 billion CFA (about 2.5 million U.S. dollars). Eighty percent of it will be financed by the Khartoum-based Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), while the Malian government will pick up the remaining 20 percent.

Mali, with a population of 10 million, covers 1,240 million square kilometres of land, most of them desert. Mali is one of the poorest countries on earth, with 65 percent of the population living on less than one U.S. dollar a day.

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Dec 17 2002 (IPS)

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.

The activist, Modibo Kane, who is the president of the Malian Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS, says ‘’all those having the virus have been victims of discrimination and stigmatisation”.

Kane says the Malian justice system provides no legal protections to those who have HIV/AIDS.

Out of a population of 10.5 million, Mali has 6,846 people living with HIV/AIDS. Of that figure, 3,864 are women and 2,971 men, according to a 2001 survey by the ministry of health.

The Malian authorities have declared December Anti-AIDS month in recognition of Global AIDS Day, celebrated every Dec 1. This year’s theme was ‘’The Fight against Stigma and Discrimination”.

Aissaata Sacko, president of the Association of AIDS Widows and Orphans, says ‘’when employers find out about their workers’ HIV status, they fire them without recourse; women and their children are frequently abandoned by their extended families when it emerge that the head of household died from AIDS”.

Women, who resist such treatment, are often subjected to abuse, she says.

Those who have been abused include an AIDS widow who, after repeated warnings to vacate, found that her landlord removed the roof of the house in the middle of the rainy season. ‘’In such situations, we don’t know who to complain to,” Sacko told Malian president, Amadou Toumani Toure on Dec 1.

‘’This fact is connected to the legal vacuum around HIV/AIDS in Mali, to ignorance about how the disease is contracted, and to the poverty afflicting the majority of the people living with HIV/AIDS,” says Kane.

Kane also questioned the effectiveness of the Malian Initiative for Anti-Retroviral drugs. ‘’After a year of operation, the Initiative has provided drugs to fewer than 400 people out of the initial 1,700 people who needed it,” he says.

The Initiative was set up last year by the government to offer access to people living with the virus. Through the programme, one could buy anti-retroviral drugs at the reduced price of 90,000 CFA (about 138 U.S. dollars), instead of the 400,000 CFA (about 615 U.S. dollars).

Those on treatment undergo numerous tests every four months. These tests alone cost around 25,000 CFA (about 38 U.S. dollars). ‘’Most people with AIDS have low incomes and live in extremely precarious situations, so practically no one is able to afford this treatment, which is so vital not only for their health but also for their survival,” says Kane.

Sixty-nine percent of Malians live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.

Kane has urged the government to declare AIDS a public health threat and to provide drugs against opportunistic diseases, and anti-retroviral treatment for all Malians living with HIV/AIDS.

President Toure says the idea of legal protections for people living with HIV/AIDS would be studied and discussed soon.

‘’But, to win the war against AIDS, the vast majority of the ‘weapons’ (medication, funding), just like the decision of what strategies to follow, are outside Mali, indeed outside Africa,” says Toure, paraphrasing a French humanitarian: ‘’The patients are in the south but the medicine is in the north”.

‘’Our brothers and sisters who have HIV and AIDS expect more compassion from us. They need comfort, support, and a friendly ear; in short, a helping hand and medication,” says Toure.

He calls for ‘’attitude change” to combat discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS in Mali.

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Dec 17 2002 (IPS)

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.

The activist, Modibo Kane, who is the president of the Malian Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS, says ‘’all those having the virus have been victims of discrimination and stigmatisation”.

Kane says the Malian justice system provides no legal protections to those who have HIV/AIDS.

Out of a population of 10.5 million, Mali has 6,846 people living with HIV/AIDS. Of that figure, 3,864 are women and 2,971 men, according to a 2001 survey by the ministry of health.

The Malian authorities have declared December Anti-AIDS month in recognition of Global AIDS Day, celebrated every Dec 1. This year’s theme was ‘’The Fight against Stigma and Discrimination”.

Aissaata Sacko, president of the Association of AIDS Widows and Orphans, says ‘’when employers find out about their workers’ HIV status, they fire them without recourse; women and their children are frequently abandoned by their extended families when it emerge that the head of household died from AIDS”.

Women, who resist such treatment, are often subjected to abuse, she says.

Those who have been abused include an AIDS widow who, after repeated warnings to vacate, found that her landlord removed the roof of the house in the middle of the rainy season. ‘’In such situations, we don’t know who to complain to,” Sacko told Malian president, Amadou Toumani Toure on Dec 1.

‘’This fact is connected to the legal vacuum around HIV/AIDS in Mali, to ignorance about how the disease is contracted, and to the poverty afflicting the majority of the people living with HIV/AIDS,” says Kane.

Kane also questioned the effectiveness of the Malian Initiative for Anti-Retroviral drugs. ‘’After a year of operation, the Initiative has provided drugs to fewer than 400 people out of the initial 1,700 people who needed it,” he says.

The Initiative was set up last year by the government to offer access to people living with the virus. Through the programme, one could buy anti-retroviral drugs at the reduced price of 90,000 CFA (about 138 U.S. dollars), instead of the 400,000 CFA (about 615 U.S. dollars).

Those on treatment undergo numerous tests every four months. These tests alone cost around 25,000 CFA (about 38 U.S. dollars). ‘’Most people with AIDS have low incomes and live in extremely precarious situations, so practically no one is able to afford this treatment, which is so vital not only for their health but also for their survival,” says Kane.

Sixty-nine percent of Malians live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.

Kane has urged the government to declare AIDS a public health threat and to provide drugs against opportunistic diseases, and anti-retroviral treatment for all Malians living with HIV/AIDS.

President Toure says the idea of legal protections for people living with HIV/AIDS would be studied and discussed soon.

‘’But, to win the war against AIDS, the vast majority of the ‘weapons’ (medication, funding), just like the decision of what strategies to follow, are outside Mali, indeed outside Africa,” says Toure, paraphrasing a French humanitarian: ‘’The patients are in the south but the medicine is in the north”.

‘’Our brothers and sisters who have HIV and AIDS expect more compassion from us. They need comfort, support, and a friendly ear; in short, a helping hand and medication,” says Toure.

He calls for ‘’attitude change” to combat discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS in Mali.

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Aug 17 2002 (IPS)

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.

The 50 dumps are filled each month with truckloads totalling more than 757,200 cubic metres of waste. These tonnes of trash are the base of commerce for the poor – the income it produces supports families.

The garbage-sellers hardly get along with the municipal sanitation workers. The problem continues to grow because of poverty.

‘’Bamako’s sanitary conditions are a big problem, the city is very dirty. This has generated a new phenomenon, that of garbage-sellers. This situation makes us look at our way of living and the dangerous ways it affects the environment and society,” says Ibrahima N’diaye, Mayor of Bamako.

Addressing a conference, titled ‘’The Problems of Cleanliness and Health’ ‘, in Bamako recently, N’diaye blamed poverty as the cause of the scavenging.

Mali, with a population of about 10 million, has a per capita income of about 157 U.S. dollars per annum, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Some 69 percent of Malians live below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 75 percent live in rural areas and 36.3 percent in urban areas. Mali’s external debt stands at 3.1 billion U.S. dollars, according to the World Bank.

Hamidou Berthé who is the General Manager of the Department of Urban Services, Roads and Sanitation, says around 250 people collect garbage from each of the city’s 50 dumps.

Although derogatorily known as ‘Merchants of Waste’, they are officially recognised as ‘rag-pickers’. They include homeless women, the elderly, but also young delinquents, who turn to garbage collecting at night, Berth said.

Legally, the scavengers are ‘’without permanent residence”. According to Berth, each has ‘’one or a number of specialities”.

Some look for coal, others for wood or canned food, or jewels (gold or silver) cast off in the garbage.

Asked why the government tolerates the presence of scavengers at the dumps, Berthé replied, ‘’We’ve tried every possible means to move them off, but in vain. They resist and adapt to every situation”.

Hawa Drame, also known as ‘’Madame Waste” is the head of the local ‘rag-pickers’ at Faladi, a suburb of Bamako.

A widow for ten years, she is in her forties raising four children. She came from San, in the region of Segou, 410 kilometres northeast of Bamako. Her youngest son died in 1993 and two of her daughters are domestics, while the third lives with an aunt.

Drame’s life as a ‘rag-picker’ started with the death of her husband. She was forced out of her community when she refused to succumb to tradition by having her husband’s older brother inherit her. Without resources, she moved to Bamako where she did not know anybody.

Upon arrival, she stayed in the outskirts of the city, by the dump. Soon she became the queen of the place.

Today she is one of the precursors of the ‘rag-picking’ trade in Mali. ‘’ Thank God,” she says. ‘’For doing this I make a living. I earn between 70 cents and 1.50 U.S. dollars a day. Sometimes companies ask us to deliver old plastic shoes for them.”

One company in the area, Fofy-Industrie, has confirmed Drame’s claims. Issa Traore, commercial director, says they order old shoes from the ‘rag-pickers’ for 15 U.S. dollars per sack.

In Berth’s view, the ‘rag-pickers’ have a negative impact on the municipal sanitation workers, because they scrape and scatter the garbage all over, although they also reduce the amount of waste to bury.

The technique used in Mali is to bury the garbage underground. The municipality of Bamako deposits the waste at Noumoubougou, 40 kilometres east of the city, where it has been allotted a 50-hectare piece of land by government, and at Dialakorobougou, 35 kilometres northeast of the city, where it has 45 hectares of land.

The city council has limited resources to get rid off the garbage. Each year, the city spends 1.4 million U.S. dollars, a third of its budget, on maintenance and sanitation.(FIN-IPS-AF-EN-DV-FRE-TRA-AC-AIT-JRC-MN-02)

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
SIBY, Mali, Jul 3 2002 (IPS)

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.

The managers and the taxi drivers bade farewell to their 200 guests who attended a four-day forum to coincide with the G8 Summit in Kananaskis, Canada.

The People’s Forum, unlike the G8 summit, was conceived as “the voice of the poor”. At the end of the forum, participants called for a “Marshall Plan” for Africa to jumpstart the continent’s economy.

They also demanded the creation of integrated economic zones and protection of Africa’s industrial sectors.

The forum constituted a “parallel summit” to the one attended by the G8 members Japan, Canada, the United States, Britain, Germany, Italy, France and Russia in Kananaskis on Jun 27-28.

Participants from Mali, Niger, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire, plus representatives from anti-globalisation groups, attended the Jun 25-28 parley. They discussed globalisation, debt, food security, trade, and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

Nicknamed the “Kananaskis Village of the People’s Forum”, Siby provided a “venue for intercultural exchanges and proposals, as well as for the development of effective alternatives to the neo-liberal policies which are at the heart of globalisation”.

“Our forum brings together poor people of the Southern Hemisphere to propose alternatives to the G8. G8 leaders are isolated from the reality of the world’s poor, but the destinies of millions are in their hands. And they make their decisions without taking into account the needs of the people, because they are only interested in multinational corporations and financial institutions,” said Aminata Barry Toure of Jubilee 2000, at the opening session of the forum last week.

“We are determined to have our say along with the rich,” said Solange Kone, president of the Ivorian Forum Against Debt and Poverty.

NEPAD, which was one of the subjects discussed at the G8 summit, was the object of strong criticism at Siby.

Organisers said the people of Africa were not consulted about NEPAD — a programme to kick-start social and economic development on the continent — that will be launched in the South African Port City of Durban next week. “You can’t do someone’s hair without her being at the hair saloon,” said Yaya Malle, assistant secretary general of the Confederation of Malian Workers, referring to the lack of input by ordinary Africans into NEPAD.

“NEPAD’s initiative, which consists of attracting private capital to revive growth, is suicidal,” said Cheick Cisse, a student at the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal.

The issue of debt was also examined at the forum. In a statement entitled “Africa, Between the Devil of Globalisation and the Deep Blue Sea of Debt,” Samba Tembelli of Jubilee 2000 painted a gloomy picture of the continent.

“Sub-Saharan Africa is the most affected region on the continent,” he said. “Its debts rose from 60 billion U.S. dollars in 1980 to more than 206 billion U.S. dollars in 2000”. During that time, he said, debt service rose from 6.7 billion U.S. dollars in 1980 to 14.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2000.

The forum demanded that Africa’s debt be cancelled without further ado.

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Jun 25 2002 (IPS)

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

“It’s time to act and save our environment,” says Traore Nene Toure of the Coalition for the Environment and Sustainable Development of the Mali Co-ordinating Committee of Women’s Groups and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

“This year, our goal is to get women involved in managing waste,” she says.

Toure took part in the Annual Environmental Fortnight event — titled ‘I Share in the Responsibility for Damaging the Environment – I Need to Create Less Garbage’ — held in Mali on Jun 2-17.

During the event, participants, especially those from the urban areas, took part in awareness sessions and educational programmes on how to control and manage garbage.

According to the latest study — conducted in 1999 — by the National Directorate for Pollution Cleanup and Control, the volume of household garbage in the district of Bamako varied between 1,500 and 2,000 cubic metres annually. The total household waste products alone represented 99 percent of the district’s total garbage, said the study.

The rate of garbage production averages 0.5 to one kilogramme per person per day. This yields an annual rate of 231 kilogrammes of solid waste per person per year in the Bamako area, whose population, according to the 2001 census, is 1.016 million. In all, some 234.696 million kilogrammes of garbage are generated in Bamako, the country’s capital, each year.

These alarming figures motivated women’s groups to organise a campaign to get rid of the mountain of garbage pilling in Mali.

Soumaila Berthe, head of the training department at the National Directorate for Pollution Cleanup and Control, says “Women must be involved in environmental management because they too contribute to environmental degradation.”

“Women must play a major role in fighting environmental degradation,” she says.

Diarra Oumou Keita, president of the Malian Anti-Pollution Groups, says “An unhealthy environment is caused by a lack of civic responsibility, a lack of monitoring mechanism, and a lack of government support.”

Noel Diarra, president of the Bamako-based Environmental Rights Network, says enforcement of Article 15 of Mali’s constitution would resolve many of the country’s environmental problems.

Article 15 stipulates that “all people have the right to a healthy environment. The protection and defence of the environment, and promotion of quality life, are government’s, and everyone’s, responsibility”.

“Although it’s true each political party has a secretary for environmental affairs, we have to acknowledge that environmental problems are not a priority for any party,” says Mamadou Cissoko, who is in charge of environmental affairs for the opposition National Renaissance Party.

The economic costs of disease linked to poor sanitary conditions was estimated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1999 to be two billion CFA (around 2.857 million U.S. dollars), or 0.16 of Mali’s gross domestic product.

Mali’s population growth (more than 3 percent) and the rapid, and often poorly planned urbanisation of its cities poses serious environmental problems for the vast semi-arid West African nation of 1.240 million square kilometres. Mali’s population is about 10 million.

Soumaila Cisse, former Minister for Territorial Planning and Environment, blames Mali’s environmental problems on “the challenge of dealing with urban waste”.

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, May 22 2002 (IPS)

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

Amadou Toumani Toure, popularly known as ATT, won the second round of the May 12 presidential elections with 64.35 percent of the vote against the 35.67 percent garnered by his opponent, Soumaila Cisse, according to provisional results announced in Bamako, the country’s capital, last week.

The results, made public by the Ministry of Territorial Administration, will be confirmed by the Constitutional Court — after verifying them — before the inaugural day on June 8.

Toure, who is married with two children, told reporters that he was aware of the “immense task” awaiting him. “The political landscape is harsher than the military rule,” said the President elect who voluntarily stepped down as Mali’s military leader in 1992.

Konare, too, was delighted by the poll’s outcome. “It’s a victory for our democracy that the baton will be passed via the ballot box,” he said.

Konare, who held two five-year terms of office, is prohibited by constitution from seeking a third term.

Cisse, who was fielded by the Alliance for Democracy, conceded defeat and congratulated Toure. “I wish him (Toure) great success and hope that stability and prosperity will return to Mali during his term of office,” he said.

Toure retired in Sep 2001, just in time to qualify as a presidential candidate. According to Mali’s election law, military officers seeking top civil jobs must resign six months prior to the official start of the electoral campaign.

In Mar 1991, Toure overthrew General Moussa Traore, becoming head of state during the 1991-1992 transition. He handed power to an elected government in 1992, after establishing a multi-party system of democracy in Mali.

During his campaign, Toure announced that unemployment, education, training and tackling poverty would be his main priorities.

His other priorities include the elimination of corruption and money laundering. “When you clean the staircase, you have to start from the top,” he said.

Political analysts, however, doubt whether he would ever achieve his objectives. “It will be hard for him to push through any ambitious reforms without a parliamentary majority,” says Amadou Keita, a professor of political science at the University of Mali.

But Toure said he would “create an alliance with the majority party in the National Assembly to achieve” his goals.

For the man in the street, Toure’s election was just “the best thing to happen to Mali”, an impoverished West African country of about 12 million people. One voter said “Toure has qualities that can give people back their sense of hope”.

But, in intellectual circles, where anti-military sentiment is still very strong, Toure’s victory is considered as “a failure of the politicians and a step backward”.

Even so, Ibrahim Sangho, chairperson of the Network for Electoral Process, a local non-governmental organisation, which dispatched 570 observers to the elections, described the poll as ‘satisfactory’.

In a statement, the Africa Obota Centre, a sub-regional group that also observed the elections, said it was delighted with the peaceful atmosphere in which the polls took place.

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Apr 18 2002 (IPS)

Mali’s only woman candidate has been barred from contesting the country’s Apr 28 presidential elections.

Hawa Sidibe Sanogo was barred after she failed to pay a five-million-CFA-franc bond (around 7,142.8 U.S. dollars) required of each of the 25 presidential hopefuls.

Bamako, the capital of Mali, has been in a state of shock since last week when the Constitutional Court published the exclusively male list of the 24 candidates approved to run for the country’s highest office. Article 135 of Malian electoral law requires all candidates to pay the bond.

Sanogo did not.

Sanogo was the first person to declare her candidacy in May 2001. She was also the first, through her husband, to file her application with the Constitutional Court on Mar 14, 2002. It was hard to believe that, given all the time that she had, she was unable to raise the money for the bond.

Devastated, Sanogo was rushed to Bamako’s Gabriel Toure Hospital, where she was admitted to the intensive care unit for 48 hours, suffering from a heart attack, her family said.

The news, of Sanogo’s saga, swept through this semiarid West African nation of 12 million people, after the Constitutional Court broadcast its decision on state-run television. Sanogo was the only candidate missing from the list.

Immediately, Afsatou Diarra Thierro, Mali’s Minister for Women, Children and Family Affairs and Oumou Toure Traore, head of the Co-ordinating Committee of Malian Non-Governmental Women’s Groups (CAFO), tried to get the government to include her in the race.

Later, visiting her at the hospital where the presidential hopeful had been admitted, Thierro and Traore learned that Sanogo was eliminated from the race because her husband had betrayed her.

Her spokesperson, Walla Traore, said Sanogo had entrusted her husband with the filing of both the bond and the final paperwork for her application. He failed to file the bond and has yet to tell his version of the story.

Since she had total confidence in her spouse, Sanogo did not consider that verification of her documents was necessary.

Her spirits were just beginning to return to normal when IPS visited her briefly at her home last week. Resigned to the crisis, she would only say, “I place myself in God’s hands . . . but I will not give up”.

Her supporters have not abandoned her. Women from all over Bamako have demonstrated their support for her.

“For the first time, women showed solidarity with one another _ and denounced the elimination of the sole woman candidate from the race,” said Thierro. “Even president Alpha Oumar Konare, was unhappy when he heard that she (Sanogo) has been eliminated.”

Traore said, “the nine-wise judges on the Constitutional Court should have warned Sanogo earlier that her application was incomplete.”

The other candidates remaining in the race have had mixed reactions. One of them, Mande Sidibe, a former prime minister, condemned her exclusion.

But Mamadou Diaby, also known as Maribatrou, described Sanogo’s plight as “a lesson to all women. They should stay at home with their pots and pans”.

Most average Malians share Diaby’s view. This is because the social and cultural weights of African tradition conspire to keep women out of politics.

But Sanogo is also very highly thought of in Mali. And women, through their organisations, have vowed to maintain their support of her through the next legislative elections.

The number of remaining candidates, 24, is also unprecedented in Mali.

Among them are heavyweights like former president, Amadou Toumani Toure, who ruled Mali between 1991 and 1992, former Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, and ruling party’s Soumaila Cisse. The three are considered favourites in the Apr 28 poll.

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Apr 2 2002 (IPS)

First Malian woman, Hawa Sidibe Sanogo, 52, has announced her candidacy for the Apr 28 presidential elections.

A trained chemical technician, she runs a small dying factory in the capital Bamako. Ten of her 15 workers are women. She is married and has six children.

Malian women, having endorsed Sanogo’s candidacy, say they no longer want to be marginalised by the country’s mainly male politicians.

Women began organising for the Apr 28 election at the end of 2000, long before the commission to oversee the poll process was set up.

The Co-ordinating Body of Associations and Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) of Women of Mali (CAFO), along with the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation, initiated a series of training workshops on the theme “Women, Political Life, and Obstacles to Civic Life”.

The workshop targets mainly poor, rural women. CAFO secretary general, Abdoulaye Maiga says the primary goal is to “equip women for broader participation and involvement by exercising their right to vote”.

The secondary aim is to develop networking and advocacy among women leaders to motivate them to be more aware of the role they could play. The purpose of such advocacy is to surmount the obstacles women face in political life.

Women constitute 51.7 percent of Mali’s about nine million people. Even so, women are still under-represented in decision-making bodies, an injustice that they say they would like to correct.

In Mali, as in most African countries, men influence how women vote. This influence manifests itself during electoral campaigns, when families come, at times, to blows and couples separate because of disagreements over politics.

That was what happened to Assa Drame Demba, the Mayor of Diabigue, a town located 740 kilometres east of Bamako. Her only sin was to run for her town’s top job. She was beaten up and humiliated in her eighth month of pregnancy, then repudiated by her husband.

In Mali, cultural and religious pressures keep women at home. Acknowledging that customs can be more rigid than laws, CAFO executive secretary, Oumou Traore Toure has launched a campaign to get men to accept women’s participation in politics.

Mali, an impoverished West African country, is 90 percent Muslim. A large segment of the population is against the idea of women running for the presidency. Nevertheless, through Sanogo, women have decided to make a run for the highest office in the land, whatever the final vote may be.

Sanogo enjoys the support of all of Mali’s women’s associations and NGOs.

Out of 22 Malian cabinet ministers, only five are women (22.7 percent). Mali has 18 women out of 125 legislators (14.4 percent), and 12 women among 703 mayors (1.7 percent).

This year, however, there has been some progress. The National Independent Electoral Commission’s only position, reserved for civil society, went to a woman, CAFO member Nana Aicha Cisse.

As a result, the theme for International Women’s Day – which was celebrated in Mali on Mar 8 – was “Women and the Electoral Process”.

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Apr 1 2002 (IPS)

First Malian woman, Hawa Sidibe Sanogo, 52, has announced her candidacy for the Apr 29 presidential elections.

A trained chemical technician, she runs a small dying factory in the capital Bamako. Ten of her 15 workers are women. She is married and has six children.

Malian women, having endorsed Sanogo’s candidacy, say they no longer want to be marginalised by the country’s mainly male politicians.

Women began organising for the Apr 29 election at the end of 2000, long before the commission to oversee the poll process was set up.

The Co-ordinating Body of Associations and Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) of Women of Mali (CAFO), along with the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation, initiated a series of training workshops on the theme “Women, Political Life, and Obstacles to Civic Life”.

The workshop targets mainly poor, rural women. CAFO secretary general, Abdoulaye Maiga says the primary goal is to “equip women for broader participation and involvement by exercising their right to vote”.

The secondary aim is to develop networking and advocacy among women leaders to motivate them to be more aware of the role they could play. The purpose of such advocacy is to surmount the obstacles women face in political life.

Women constitute 51.7 percent of Mali’s about nine million people. Even so, women are still under-represented in decision-making bodies, an injustice that they say they would like to correct.

In Mali, as in most African countries, men influence how women vote. This influence manifests itself during electoral campaigns, when families come, at times, to blows and couples separate because of disagreements over politics.

That was what happened to Assa Drame Demba, the Mayor of Diabigue, a town located 740 kilometres east of Bamako. Her only sin was to run for her town’s top job. She was beaten up and humiliated in her eighth month of pregnancy, then repudiated by her husband.

In Mali, cultural and religious pressures keep women at home. Acknowledging that customs can be more rigid than laws, CAFO executive secretary, Oumou Traore Toure has launched a campaign to get men to accept women’s participation in politics.

Mali, an impoverished West African country, is 90 percent Muslim. A large segment of the population is against the idea of women running for the presidency. Nevertheless, through Sanogo, women have decided to make a run for the highest office in the land, whatever the final vote may be.

Sanogo enjoys the support of all of Mali’s women’s associations and NGOs.

Out of 22 Malian cabinet ministers, only five are women (22.7 percent). Mali has 18 women out of 125 legislators (14.4 percent), and 12 women among 703 mayors (1.7 percent).

This year, however, there has been some progress. The National Independent Electoral Commission’s only position, reserved for civil society, went to a woman, CAFO member Nana Aicha Cisse.

As a result, the theme for International Women’s Day – which was celebrated in Mali on Mar 8 – was “Women and the Electoral Process”.

Excerpt:

By Almahady Cissé
BAMAKO, Feb 20 2002 (IPS)

Women’s groups in Mali are using soccer tournaments — like this month’s Africa Cup of Nations in Bamako — to drum up support for anti-child labour campaign in the country.

The latest campaign, which was dubbed ‘Red Card Against Child Labour’, took place during the 23rd Africa Cup of Nations in Bamako from Jan 19 to Feb 10. To be “shown a red card” is a soccer expression, which means to be ejected from a game.

The campaign aims to raise public awareness about the consequences of child labour. During the Jan 10-Feb 10 tournament, it ran television publicity spots featuring top celebrities.

Child labour and exploitation are common practices in traditional African society.

Ibrahim Almeinoune, a psychologist at the “IR-FABA”, a non- governmental organisation, which helps migrant girls in rural Mali integrate into society, says most often work is considered a normal part of a child’s upbringing in Mali.

“Poverty and the concept that work enriches children are reasons why this practice continues to expand,” he says.

Mali’s per capita income is about 103,130 CFA francs (about 147 U.S. dollars) per annum, according to the 2001 Human Development Report, the latest published by the UN.

According to the report, 90 percent of Mali’s population lives, mostly in rural areas, on less than one U.S. dollar a day.

This is why rural children often leave their families to work in the big cities. Especially if they are boys, they work mostly in factories or fields. And usually, without any safeguards against the risks they face.

Moulaye Hassane Tall, of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Bamako, urged employers — when launching the campaign on Jan 26 — to stop exploiting children.

The Convention, adopted by the ILO in Geneva on June 17, 1999, demands immediate and effective measures to ban and eliminate the worst forms of child labour.

ILO’s Gabriel Djankou said the worst forms of child labour include slavery, forced labour, indentured servitude, and the use of children in such practices as flogging and child pornography.

The “red card campaign” also singled out the employment of young girls as domestics.

Domestics are commonly referred to as “maids” or “52s” in Mali’s popular slang. Aged from less than eight years to 15, these “helpers” are expected to do all house chores. Their wages range from 3,500 to 6,500 CFA francs (between approximately five and nine U.S. dollars) per month.

During a debate on Feb 8, which was part of the campaign, Idrissa Koita, of the department of works, made a speech pleading for the protection of young girls.

Koita brought a girl, Halima Togo who had been employed as a “maid” by a landlady. When she wanted to return home after three years of service, her boss refused to pay her and accused her of stealing.

The police officer in charge of the inquiry put the girl in touch with Koita, who at the time was a labour inspector. Koita helped the girl get her pay. The pair was invited by the ILO to recount their experiences.

Togo was asked two questions during the conference: “At what time were you able to go to sleep?” and “At what time did you get up?” She responded that she did not know the answer to the former, but that she was forced to wake up every day at 5:00 A.M. The audience was moved by her testimony.

Koita said the laws should be enforced. Children under the age of 15 cannot legally be employed as domestics, and those legitimately employed should be paid at least the minimum wage of 20,965 CFA (about 30 U.S. dollars) per month.

For Mariam Sangare Kansaye, a representative from the group “Women, Islam, and Development”, “The most important thing is not raising these young girls’ salaries but making sure that agreements are respected. If we can’t do that, we should at least sanction employers who fail to do so”.

Of the 250 million working children in the world, 80 million live in Africa, according to the ILO.

In Mali, 26,000 children are involved in labour. Sixty percent of them are young girls, who work within the country’s boundaries. Another 34,000 Malian children work on plantations in Cote D’Ivoire, according to a 2001 study by the National Directorate for Women and Children’s Advocacy and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

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