Modibo Keïta

Modibo Keïta ( born June 4, 1915 in Bamako, † May 16 1977 in Kidal ) was 1960-1968 President of Mali.

Youth

Keïta was born in the district Coura in Bamako, the capital of the former French Sudan. The family belonged to the Malinke. After attending school in his hometown, he attended the École Normale Supérieure in 1934 William Ponty in Dakar, where he was among the best students. Since 1936 he worked as a teacher in Bamako, Sikasso and Timbuktu. He was involved in theater and youth groups.

Politician

In 1937, he was together with Ouezzin Coulibaly co-founder of the union syndicat of enseignants d' Afrique Occidentale Française. In 1943 he founded the magazine L' oeil de Kénédougou, in which he criticized the colonial administration. His attitude brought him briefly later in the Paris prison La Santé. He became a member of the small Communist Groupes d' Etudes Communistes. The group supported his unsuccessful candidacy for the Constituent Assembly for the Fourth Republic in Paris. Later he joined, founded by Mamadou Konaté Party Bloc soudanais, later Union soudanais, at whose Secretary General, he was in 1947.

After Rassemblement Démocratique Africain founding of the Party ( RDA) in Bamako, whose leader Félix Houphouët-Boigny was, Keïta took over in 1948 the post of Secretary General of the RDA for the French Sudan.

Parliamentarian

In 1948 he became a deputy of the Territorial Assembly, in 1953 the Council of the French Union, and in 1956 he made ​​the jump to the French National Assembly. The first Africans he was Vice President of the National Assembly. In the same year he was also mayor of Bamako. In 1957 he was one of the governments of Maurice Bourgès - Maunoury and Félix Gaillard as Secretary of State.

In 1958 he became president of the Constituent Assembly of the Fédération du Mali (Mali Federation ). After leaving Upper Volta and Dahomey these still belonged to the French Sudan and Senegal. After the independence of the Federation on 20 June 1960, the state collapsed already on August 20, 1960 to the differences between and Leopold Sedar Senghor Keïta. In the short-lived Federation Keïta was 1959 head of government since April 4.

President

Keïta proclaimed on 22 September 1960, the Republic of Mali and was its first president. Based on the Unity Party of Union Soudanais he pursued socialist policies. Relations with France cooled in his tenure as strong. Keïta in 1962 managed the CFA franc in Mali on what the country's economy hurt badly. With the failure of his economic policies of the franc had to be heavily devalued anomalies in 1963 and 1967. 1984 returned the country back in the franc zone.

In foreign policy, he entered even after the failure of the Mali Federation for the unity of the African states and worked closely with the Heads of State of Guinea, Ahmed Sékou Touré and Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah together. In 1963 he contributed to the Charter of the Organization of African Unity.

Opposition had imprisoned Keïta, to secure its power people's militia were set up.

Fall

On November 19, 1968 Keïta was overthrown by a military coup led by Colonel Moussa Traoré (see coup in Mali 1968). After he was deposed, he spent some time in the remote town of Kidal in the north of the country. Keïta spent the rest of his life as a prisoner and died on 16 May 1977 under mysterious circumstances, which led to unrest in the country.

Rehabilitation

After the fall Traoré 1991, he was officially rehabilitated a year later by the new President Amadou Toumani Touré. On 6 June 1999, the Memorial Modibo Keïta Memorial was opened in Bamako. Also carries the football stadium Stade Modibo Keïta, also in Bamako, his name.