Farewell to General Moussa Traore

 

 

General Moussa Traoré  who ruled Mali  for more than 22 years died in Bamako yesterday at the age of 83. I have a picture of him on my wall in London.  This causes some raised eyebrows, since he was a dictator who ousted the first Malian president Modibo Keita in a coup in 1968. He was himself removed by a coup masterminded by Amadou ToumaniToure  in 1991. (The latter was of course also eventually removed by a coup in 2012...and so it goes on.)

Now, there are dictators and dictators. Let's be clear: Moussa was no Idi Amin. Many in Mali feel that the time during Moussa was  a stable time and  that the country has not improved since. A golden shimmer has gradually settled upon Moussa over time, helped along by gentle forgetfulness and the Malian people's ability to forgive almost anything. 

My Keita's father, Colonel Abdoulaye Keita was a personal friend of Moussa's and when Keita was a baby he bounced on Moussa's lap. That is the explanation for his picture on my wall, which I appropriated from Keita's wall after his death and therefore my soft feelings towards Moussa, dictator or not...

Alpha Oumar Konare, the civilian president who followed Moussa, pardoned him and had his death sentence removed.   Since 2002 Moussa was  able to  live in peaceful, genteel retirement, enjoying a status as an elder statesman, being visited by politicians and elite military including Colonel Assimi Goita, the leader of  the current  junta who sought his advice only a few days ago to outline a transition to civilian rule. 

RIP Moussa Traore.

 

It feels like a privilege to be here at this important moment for Mali. As always I wanted to see Dr. Guida Landoure, an intimate friend of my Keita's and an eminent neurologist.  He is right in the thick of things- in fact is is part of the M5-RFP, the coalition of various civilians and opposition politicians who orchestrated the uprisings this summer which culminated in the coup d'etat.

 Guida came to see me at Hotel Badala last night, straight from a meeting with some high powered other members of the group:  Cheick Oumar Sissoko, the film maker and former Minister of Culture is one of them. I was excited to hear that because I sat next to him for a dinner once at the Danish Ambassador's place (yes, yes, I know I am name dropping..)and he was a delight. I found out that he had never seen Babette's Feast, and I told him that it was a catastrophy for a celebrated film maker like him never to have seen it. The next time I went to Bamako I brought him the DVD which I delivered at the Malian film institute. But I digress... According to Guida the Western diplomats are wary of Sissoko who they think is too left wing. But Guida and some are proposing him for interim president.

 Guida told me that Dicko, the powerful cleric with Wahabist leanings who was instrumental in organising the uprisings and who has made out that his job is now  done and that he is  withdrawing is not telling the truth- he is still highly active in and around  M5-RFP. Now this might be a worrying thing- it would of course be best to keep religion out of it as much as possible.... But Guida is not worried about Dicko. Guida is very upbeat about it all and  still thinks it is possible to carve out a better Mali from the present  situation, although they are experiencing some trouble with the junta, whose recent 'roadmap' for the transition period was not acceptable to them because it stated that the president during the transition period could be either a civilian or from the military, although in earlier consultations it had been decided that the interim president must be a civilian. This U-turn made the group announce that

"M5-RFP distances itself from the ... document which does not reflect the views and decisions of the Malian people". 

So, let's see...the embargo continues and the neighboring ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African State) has given the ruling junta one week to chose an interim government.

And otherwise... my morning hikes with Karen continues in the green hills of Bamako!