Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta

Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta ( born January 29, 1945 in Koutiala ) is a Malian politician. He was Prime Minister from 1994 to 2000 and from 2002 to 2007 President of the Parliament. Since 4 September 2013, is president of Mali.

Early years

Keïta visited the Janson de Sailly in Paris and later the Lycée Askia Mohamed in Bamako. He studied at the University of Dakar, at the Sorbonne and at the Institut d' histoire des relations internationales contemporaines ( IHRIC ). He completed his studies with a Master's degree in History and a degree in political science and international relations. After graduation, he worked for the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS ) and examined the political systems in the Third World countries.

After his return to Mali, he worked for the Development Fund of the European Economic Community. In addition, he was a representative of the French branch of the NGO Terre des hommes for Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

Political career

During the transition to democracy, he was part of the coalition movement Alliance pour la démocratie au Mali - Parti africain pour la solidarité et la justice ( ADEMA - PASJ ) and was head of the election campaign of Alpha Oumar Konaré, the president was, having won the election on 8 June 1992. KONARE summoned him to his advisor in diplomatic issues. In November 1992, he was Ambassador to the Ivory Coast, Gabon, Burkina Faso and Niger. A year later, he took over the post of Foreign Minister in charge of Malians abroad and African Integration.

On February 4, 1994 President KONARE him appointed as Prime Minister. In addition, he was president of the ADEMA - PASJ and 1999 vice-president of the Socialist International. During his tenure there were tensions within his party. After his resignation as Prime Minister on 14 February 2000, he gave in October 2000 also presided over the ADEMA - PASJ and founded with a few followers, the party Rassemblement pour le Mali (RPM). In June 2001, he became president of RPM. At that time he was considered one of the richest men in Mali.

In the presidential election of 2002, he applied after initial hesitation as a candidate for the succession of the RPM Konaré. In the first round of voting on 28 April 2002 he reached with 21.03 % of votes in third place and retired. The result of this election was initially controversial, Keïta accepted his defeat in May and supported the subsequent election winner in the second ballot, General Amadou Toumani Touré.

In the parliamentary elections in July 2002, his group was the strongest force with 46 of 147 seats and is part of a coalition with the name Espoir 2002, which won a total of 66 seats. Keïta was elected on 16 September 2002 President of the Parliament and held that post until 2007. He is also President of the Executive Committee of the African Parliamentary Union.

He joined the Presidential elections in Mali in 2013 as the candidate of the Movement for Mali in which he obtained the most votes. However, since this was not sufficient for the absolute majority he took up in a runoff election on August 11 against Soumaïla Cissé. After counting about two -thirds of the votes Cissé confessed prematurely a defeat and congratulated Keïta to victory. On September 4, 2013, was sworn in as president.