(Ecofin Agency) – The former president of Mali, General Amadou Toumani Touré, known as ATT, has died early on Tuesday after a heart attack, according to the Malian media, citing sources close to the family.
Former President of Mali, Amadou Toumani Touré (ATT) (photo) passed away on Tuesday 10 November 2020 around 2 am in Istanbul (Turkey) at the age of 72 following a heart attack, report the Malian media, citing sources close to the family.
Born on 4 November 1948 in Mopti, ATT, after a brief career as a teacher, radically changed his profession and joined the ranks of the Malian army.
In March 1991, after popular demonstrations, he took part, at the head of the paratrooper commandos, in the coup against Moussa Traoré. He then took the presidency of the Transitional Committee for the Salvation of the People and assumed the functions of head of State during the democratic transition.
It organized the National Conference, which took place from 29 July to 12 August 1991, followed by legislative and presidential elections in 1992. After these elections, he handed over power to the new president-elect, Alpha Oumar Konaré.
He was then called the “soldier of democracy”. The new president appointed him to the rank of general to thank him for his “service to the nation”.
On September 1, 2001, he resigned from the army and decided to run in the presidential election of 2002 as an independent candidate, supported however by a civil society organization «the Citizen Movement» that its supporters created and animated.
He was elected President of the Republic on 12 May 2002 with 64.35% of the vote in the second round against 35.65% for Soumaïla Cissé. He was re-elected for a second term on 29 April 2007 in the first round with 71.20% of the vote against 19.15% obtained by his main opponent of the time, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (IBK).
On the night of 21-22 March 2012, just over two months before the end of his mandate, ATT was overthrown by a coup d’état. The mutineers of the National Committee for the Recovery of Democracy and the Restoration of the State, led by Captain Amadou Sanogo, denounce the management of the conflict in the north of the country between the army and the Tuareg rebellion.
Following this coup, ECOWAS undertook a series of actions to restore constitutional order. However, ATT agreed to officially resign as President of the Republic of Mali on 8 April 2012, and went into exile in Dakar (Senegal) until 24 December 2017, when he returned to the country for good.
Source : Agence Eco Fin / Par Borgia Kobri
