United States Department of State

Mali: Human Rights United States Department of State

Publisher Marketing: Mali is a constitutional democracy. On August 28, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita won the presidential election, deemed free and fair by international observers, and took office on September 4. This ended a 16-month transitional period following the March 2012 military coup that ousted the former democratically elected president, Amadou Toumani Toure. The election of a democratic government and the arrest of coup leader Amadou Sanogo restored some civilian control over the military. Authorities, however, failed at times to maintain effective control over the security forces, and individual units within the security forces committed human rights abuses. From January 12 to July 6, the government maintained a state of emergency. The Malian military, the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), and the French military conducted military operations against violent extremist organizations including Ansar al-Dine, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) in the northern part of the country. Members of the military committed serious human rights abuses, including summary executions, as well as torture, abuse, and forced disappearance of civilians allegedly having ties to rebel fighters. Impunity was a problem, although the newly elected government took steps to prosecute coup leader Sanogo and some members of the military accused of perpetrating human rights abuses. By year's end the Ministry of Defense had presented 10 cases to the civil courts for prosecution.