Dioncounda Traoré

Dioncounda Traoré, 2011

Dioncounda Traoré (born February 23, 1942 in Kati (near Bamako , Mali )) is a Malian mathematician and politician. He was the President of Mali from April 12, 2012 to September 4, 2013.

biography

Traoré was born in the small garrison town of Kati, near the later Malian capital Bamako in what was then the colony of French West Africa . He received his school education in Kati, then in Nara, Kayes and in Fréjus in France. He graduated from the Lycée Terrasson de Fougères (today Lycée Askia Mohamed ) in Bamako and obtained the Baccalauréat there in 1961 . He then studied in the Soviet Union from 1962-65 at the Moscow State University at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics. 1965-1970 he continued his studies at the University of Algiers in the natural science faculty, and graduated in 1970 with the teaching examination (License d'Enseignement) . In the following years he acquired a number of higher-education diplomas (DEA = Master of Advanced Studies ) of Mathematics until he in 1977 at the University of Nice with the work "Le problème de Dirichlet pour l'équation de Poisson dans des domaines convexes non Bornes" to the doctor who received a doctorate in mathematics. 1977-80 he was a professor at the École Normale Supérieure in Bamako (ENSUP), an engineering school. 1980-82 he was suspended from service because of his political activities. From 1982 he was Professor of Mathematics at the École Nationale d'Ingénieurs (ENI) in Bamako and its director from 1991 to 1992.

Political career

Since around 1990 he has been active in leading positions in the political party Alliance pour la Démocratie au Mali-Parti Pan-Africain pour la Liberté, la Solidarité et la Justice (ADEMA-PASJ) and has been its chairman since 2001. 1992–93 he was Minister for General Tasks, Transport and Administration Modernization in the Government of Mali and from 1993 to 1994 Malian Minister of Defense. He was president of the Alliance pour la démocratie et le progrès (ADP), which campaigned for Amadou Toumani Touré to be elected President in 2007 . After the parliamentary elections in Mali in 2007, Traoré was elected President of the National Assembly. After the coup in Mali in 2012 , he was appointed transitional president of Mali on April 6, 2012 as a result of an agreement between the putschists led by Amadou Sanogo and the West African Economic Community (ECOWAS).

On May 21, 2012, young demonstrators entered the presidential palace with almost no resistance and beat up Traoré. The 70-year-old sustained injuries to his head, chest and back and temporarily lost consciousness. The day before the event, opposition leader Amadou Sanogo had been urged by the West African Economic Community to cease claims that he controlled most of the country. Traoré was then flown to France on May 23, 2012 for further medical care. After two months of medical rehabilitation in France, he returned to Mali on July 27, 2012 and took over the official duties again. Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta , the winner of the 2013 presidential election in Mali , was sworn in on September 4, 2013 , replacing Dioncounda Traoré.

Personal

Traoré speaks the West African languages Soninke and Bambara , as well as French , and partly Russian , English and Spanish . He is a Muslim, married and has 7 children.