Press Release: IMF Executive Board Approves US$45.7 Million PRGF Arrangement for Mali with Front-Loaded Disbursement to Address Higher Food and Fuel Prices
http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2008/pr08126.htm
One of the things my kids (now grown up with kids of their own) reminisce about from their life in West Africa is mangoes fresh from the tree. They both loved green mangoes, a peculiarly teenage phenomenon as far as I was concerned, sour and acidic. I can get mangoes here in the UK, but they are a shadow of the freshly picked, ripened on the tree version. I was pleased to spot a photo essay on BBC NEWS specifically on mangoes from Mali. We used to drive out along the Sibi road for picnics and it was a joy to get the first mangoes of the year from road side stalls. I say stalls but really it would be just a few piles of mangoes on a cloth, or maybe on a rickety table or in large washing buckets. None of the ladies spoke any French so I had to struggle with the Bambara money system, based on 5. I never really felt i had a handle on it. But it gave them a laugh anyway.
Here are some delightful pictures courtesy of BBC:
In pictures: Mali’s mangos (click here to go to the photo essay and notes)
Djenaba Coulibaly is having a good season. She sells the mangos everyday at Sibi’s market, and gets about $1 for every 30 mangos.“I can look after my family with the money, and buy clothes for the children. But this year I’m going to treat myself,” she says.
Short season
Attempts are being made to diversify the industry and develop the income-generating potential of those - mostly women - who work in it.At the Jeka Bara co-operative in the Sebenikoro district of Bamako, a group of 17 women are having some success in maximising their income. “I’m going to get some new clothes, some really nice food and even a beautiful pair of new shoes.” This is important as the mango season is a short one - beginning in February and lasting between two to three months.
Following the rebel attack on 6th May 2008, the American Embassy in Bamako sent out the following warning. Please take note if you are currently in Mali or planning a trip there in the near future.
Embassy of the United States of America
Bamako, Mali
WARDEN MESSAGE
May 6, 2008
This Warden Message is being issued to inform U.S. citizens in Mali that on May 6, 2008, bandits of unknown origin attacked a military base in Diabali, approximately 175 km (110 miles) north of Segou. The bandits fled the scene and reportedly headed north towards the Mauritanian border. The Embassy notes that such activity near the Malian/Mauritanian border area is unusual, but it is too early to predict whether concern for travel in this area will remain problematic or prove an unrepeated aberration. As a result of this event and the possible presence of this group of armed bandits in the area, the U.S. Embassy in Bamako advises against travel to areas outside of urban population centers north of Segou at this time.
In addition, sporadic skirmishes have been reported in the Kidal region during the last week. The Embassy again renews its caution to avoid travel in northern Mali, particularly in the Kidal region and areas north of Timbuktu.
U.S. citizens planning to travel to northern Mali despite this caution should review the Country Specific Information sheet for Mali, dated February 12, 2008 and focus particularly on security and logistical considerations regarding travel to the northern regions of Mali. American citizens should also notify the consular section of their plans and may do so by e-mail at consularbamako@state.gov.
American citizens may inquire about the latest security information with the embassy or consult the Department’s web site at http://travel.state.gov, where the current Worldwide Caution Public Announcement, Travel Warnings, and Public Announcements can be found.
Up-to-date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S., or, for callers outside the U.S. and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays). Information specific to Mali is located at http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_962.html
The U.S. Embassy in Bamako is located at ACI 2000, Rue 243, Porte 297, Bamako, Mali. The Embassy’s telephone number is 270-2300. The after-hours telephone number for the duty officer for emergency situations is (223) 675-2860.
Source: AlertNet
BAMAKO, May 6 (Reuters) - Tuareg rebels attacked two army camps in Mali on Tuesday, killing one soldier and looting a weapons store at a garrison much closer to the capital than most previous operations, a senior army officer said.
The rebels launched the twin attacks on Tuesday morning, three days after a clash that appeared to torpedo a ceasefire deal hammered out in Libya a month ago.
Source: IMF
Mali: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
| Published: | April 3, 2008 | |
| Electronic Access: | Free Full Text (PDF file size is 2,076KB) Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF file. |
|
| Series: | Country Report No. 08/121 | |
Mali: Joint Staff Advisory Note of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
| Published: | April 3, 2008 | |
| Electronic Access: | Free Full Text (PDF file size is 208KB) Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF file. |
|
| Series: | Country Report No. 08/122 | |
Source: Rural Poverty Portal
Multilaterals
Délégation de la commission européenne
Stratégie de coopération et programme indicatif 2003-2007
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Programme des Nations Unies pour le développement (PNUD)
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
World Bank
World Food Programme (WFP)
 |
Bilaterals Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Programming framework
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ)
Groupe Agence française de développement (AFD)
Activité du groupe au Mali
KfW Entwicklungsbank
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Source: Rural Poverty Portal
Rural poverty approaches, policies and strategies in Mali
In May 2002 the Government of Mali issued its first Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), outlining its general strategy for poverty reduction. The 2002-2006 PRSP led to an improvement in Malians’ living conditions, especially in their access to education, health care and water. But weak economic growth hindered any significant reduction in rural poverty. This prompted the government to make development of productive sectors and production support infrastructure the core of its poverty reduction strategy.
The new PRSP, designated the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, covers the period 2007-2011 and focuses on two specific objectives:
For more information:
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), 2002
Source:IFAD
Source: Rural Poverty Portal
Rural poverty in Mali
National poverty reduction strategies have reduced the proportion of the country’s poor people from 68.3 per cent in 2001 to 59.2 per cent in 2005. Still, Mali is one of the world’s poorest countries, ranking 175th out of 177 countries in the United Nations Development Programme’s 2006 Human Development Index.
Three forms of poverty affect people in Mali:
More than 73 per cent of the country’s rural people live below the poverty line. Poverty is widespread in rural Mali, but it does not affect all poor people in the same way. Over the past decade trends have shown a shift in the geographical distribution of poverty.
Source: IMF
Working Paper No. 07/295: Modeling Inflation for Mali
Author/Editor: Diouf, Mame Astou
Summary: This paper investigates how consumer price inflation is determined in Mali for 1979-2006 along three macroeconomic explanations: (1) monetarist theories, emphasizing the impact of excess money supply, (2) the structuralist hypothesis, stressing the impact of supply-side constraints, and (3) external theories, describing the effects of foreign transmission mechanisms on a small open economy. The analysis makes use of cointegration techniques and general-to-specific modeling. Average national rainfall, and to a lesser extent deviations from monetary and external sector equilibrium are found to be the main long-run determinants of inflation. The paper offers policy recommendations for controlling inflation in Mali.
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=21518.0
We hear quite a lot about major corporations and their negative impact on the African continent. However, just recently I was contacted by a representative for Hallmark Cards who had read this blog and wanted to tell me about a textile project they are running in Mali. As many of you know Mali is famous for bogolan mudcloth textiles.
Hallmark is now a partner with the (RED) campaign. Like other PRODUCT (RED) partners, Hallmark’s gifts and cards raise money for the Global Fund’s fight against AIDS and other diseases in Africa, but this campaign also supports Malian artisans and their local economies. Artisans in Bamako, Mopti, San, and Sevaré are working with Hallmark to produce the Mud Cloth Bag that is part of Hallmark’s collection of PRODUCT (RED) items, generating jobs and income for these artisans. I’ve attached a picture of one of the Mud Cloth Bags for you to see (there are several designs). This is the first export to use Mali’s African Growth and Opportunities Act textile visa.
For more information, please visit www.hallmark.com/red1 - there, you can learn more about the Mud Cloth Bag, and Hallmark’s involvement with the (RED) campaign.
Seen on IRIN NEWS
MALI: Making pipe dreams come true
BAMAKO, 13 November 2007 (IRIN) - For years, women in the Malian village Sotuba squabbled over the two state-run standpipes, having walked two or three kilometres in search of water for their families.
Then, three years ago, a young entrepreneur, Bakary Koïta, contacted the national water provider, Energie du Mali (EDM), and drilled his own private standpipe. He recruited unemployed youths to fill jerry-cans with water and take them by cart to people’s homes.
“Obviously, the price is a little higher, but the women no longer have to come all the way,” Koïta told IRIN. “The conflicts, problems and little quarrels surrounding the water points are now limited.”
Koïta is part of a long-standing trend in West Africa and the developing world for small private operators to supply water. Increasingly, researchers are recognising this potential for the future of water provision in countries where national water suppliers are failing to meet the demand in rapidly growing cities.
One billion customers
The French engineering firm Hydroconseil estimates that one billion people in the developing world, 40 million in West Africa, and at least half a million in Mali, access water through small providers.
Mostly located in small towns and in the peripheries of urban areas, they range from individuals managing a standpipe and cart-pushers delivering water, as in Mali, to those investing in more developed networks of pipes, as in Mauritania. Most are local entrepreneurs new to the water sector.
A 2006 report by Hydroconseil and Building Partnership for Development in Water and Sanitation (BPDWS), a global network of business, government and civil society, found these providers active in providing water in areas “unserved” by the national water utility - and in many cases, doing a better job.
“The surveys showed them often outperforming larger formal providers in meeting demand for household connections, usually without any external subsidies,” the report stated.
Mali, for example, has “great water-resource potential . largely superior to the country’s needs”, but it is badly managed and unevenly distributed, according to the 2007 African Economic Outlook, an annual report by the African Development Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The UN says half of Malians have no or inadequate access to a household connection, standpipe, borehole, or protected well.
“The provision of services like water by small-scale private and local providers will be the future,” said Hydroconseil chairman Bernard Collignon.
Illicit, informal, unregulated
In Moribabougou, a suburb of the Malian capital, Bamako, private water vendor Oumar works with an old cart, a donkey and a barrel. Where 72 percent of Malians live on less than US$1 a day, he can make up to 5,000 CFA francs ($11.20) daily.
While these operators can be very successful, they do face constraints. Most are not formally recognised and operate illegally.
“[Governments] know they are there; they know they are an important part of the economic life of the country; but they don’t know how to handle them,” Collignon added.
Without licences, many are unwilling to make serious investments in the water business, for fear of being shut down or expropriated. They are also excluded from cheap loans and investment programmes. A 2005 World Bank report identified a lack of affordable financing as a constraint for most small private service providers.
Some countries, however, have been successful in formally engaging them. The Mauritanian government has built small water systems and contracted them out to 400 private providers, who serve 13 percent of the population.
Resistance
Even so, says David Schaub-Jones, co-author of the BPDWS report, the concept makes many people uncomfortable.
“People say this is creeping privatisation; this is the state abdicating its responsibilities,” he said. Others worry the services do not always meet health and engineering standards - water may be collected from unsafe sources such as rivers, analysts point out. “Another school of opinion says they are a bunch of bandits, extorting money from people who have no options.”
In Moribabougou, one private provider charges 300,000 CFA francs ($671) for installation and 3,000 francs ($6.71) per 1,000 litres.
“What to do?” asked one customer. “We don’t have any choice if we don’t want to die of thirst.”
Meeting MDGs
The authors of the report believe small-scale providers will play a crucial role in meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals - for 75 percent of sub-Saharan Africa to have access to potable water by 2015.
“In some situations - slums for example, where you have a very dense area with poor people - probably the only way to meet the MDGs will be to build the public service with private providers,” Collignon said.
These providers can fill the gap in the short to medium term, Schaub-Jones said, and eventually be incorporated into whatever longer-term framework the state creates.
© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org
[This item comes to you via IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its Member States. Reposting or reproduction, with attribution, for non-commercial purposes is permitted. Terms and conditions: http://www.irinnews.org/copyright.aspx
News from the IMF
http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2007/pr07244.htm
IMF Executive Board Completes Sixth Review Under Mali’s PRGF Arrangement and Approves US$2.1 Million Disbursement
Press Release No. 07/244
October 31, 2007The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today completed the sixth and final review of Mali’s economic performance under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangement. The completion of the review allows the release of SDR 1.34 million (about US$2.1 million) to Mali, which will bring the total amount drawn under the arrangement to SDR 9.33 million (about US$14.6 million).In completing the review, the Executive Board also approved Mali’s request for waivers of nonobservance of performance criteria pertaining to the implementation of two structural performance criteria on the Caisse des Retraites du Mali (CRM) and the Banque de l’Habitat du Mali (BHM) as well as the nonobservance of the performance criterion on the concessionality of external financing. The Executive Board also approved a short extension of the arrangement to November 30, 2007 to allow the final disbursement. The three-year PRGF arrangement with Mali was approved on June 23, 2004 (see Press Release No. 04/125) in a total amount of SDR 9.33 million (about US$14.6 million).The PRGF is the IMF’s concessional facility for low-income countries. PRGF-supported programs are based on country-owned poverty reduction strategies that are adopted in a participatory process involving civil society and development partners and articulated in the country’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. This is intended to ensure that PRGF-supported programs are consistent with a comprehensive framework for macroeconomic, structural, and social policies to foster growth and reduce poverty. PRGF loans carry an annual interest rate of 0.5 percent and are repayable over 10 years with a 5½-year grace period on principal payments.
Following today’s Executive Board discussion of Mali, Mr. Murilo Portugal, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, stated:
“Mali’s economic program supported by the IMF through its Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility has broadly succeeded in maintaining macroeconomic stability. As a result of the authorities’ efforts and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative, the public debt is well within sustainable levels. However, economic growth per capita remains below the level required to significantly reduce poverty or achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and the economy remains highly vulnerable to external shocks.
“Mali needs to accelerate growth and poverty reduction through vigorous implementation of structural reform. Important reforms are under way, although implementation of some measures under the program has remained incomplete. A key reform would be to disengage the government from commercial activities, including those in the cotton, banking, and telecommunications sectors. In this context, the authorities’ renewed commitment to restructure the state-owned housing bank and improve governance at the loss-making state-owned cotton ginning and energy companies is welcome.
“Fiscal policy should maintain its focus on macroeconomic stability. The authorities are committed to closing the 2008 budget financing gap through spending measures, if necessary, while protecting social outlays. It will be important that legislation to reform the civil service pension fund be submitted to the national assembly soon, as it remains essential to longer-term fiscal sustainability.
“It is important to keep strengthening debt management and increasing the transparency of borrowing. The recent nonconcessional financing for the electricity sector was an exceptional stop-gap measure in response to urgent needs for power generation. Going forward, it will be important to avoid recourse to high-cost financing to maintain debt sustainability.
“With a renewed political mandate, the authorities have an opportunity to reinvigorate the reform agenda. Implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy through a detailed action plan could give a renewed impetus to reforms and accelerate progress towards achieving the MDGs,” Mr. Portugal said.
Seen on IRIN NEWS
MALI: Rural youth rarely find fortunes in the city
BAMAKO, 12 October 2007 (IRIN) - When Nouhoum Sangaré left his wife, three children and village in southern Mali for the capital Bamako 240km away, he expected to find stable work and a comfortable life, and eventually have his family join him.
He found a different and unglamorous reality. He goes from small job to small job, barely making ends meet. He often comes home after a day’s work with 100 CFA francs (22 US cents).
“It’s not easy,” Sangaré told IRIN, “because I have to share the crumbs I earn with my parents and my family in the village.”
Sangaré is one of a growing number of young rural Malians who are leaving their homes to find work in the city.
Mali’s capital, Bamako, is the fastest growing city in Africa and the sixth-fastest growing city in the world, according to data compiled by the Mayor’s Association, a global network of city officials.
Urban areas are booming throughout West Africa. In Mali’s western neighbour Mauritania, more than 60 percent of the traditionally nomadic people there are estimated to have moved to towns and cities.
Analysts say most do not find what they are looking for and in some cases end up worse off.
Fleeing poverty
No national study has been conducted to gauge the magnitude of migration within Mali; but in the western region of Kayes - one of the hardest hit by migration - a non-governmental organisation (NGO) found that 40 percent of its population had left the region in the period 1993-2002 to move either to Bamako, elsewhere in West or North Africa, or to try to get to Europe.
Sangaré, 26, blames decline in his village for his decision to flee. “The fields don’t produce any more. The fruits rot because we don’t have the means to turn them into other products [for example, juice] or to take them into town,” where there is more of a market for them, he said.
“After the rainy season we have nothing to do but rub shoulders with poverty every day.”
Observers say the majority of the young men and women who move to Bamako and other urban areas do not fare much better there than they did in the countryside, because in the city they have to start from scratch and pay for things they used to just pull out of the ground.
Worries
“At first they are busy trying to find work. They do whatever work they can find - labourer, factory worker, hawker - and if they don’t find anything to provide for their immediate needs, they get into theft and robbery,” Drissa Guindo, national director of youth at the Ministry of Youth and Sport, told IRIN.
“It’s really only a handful that succeed.”
Sangaré has tried everything from selling sunglasses to building work, and shoe-shining. He is now a rickshaw driver by day and a security guard by night. He says his children are no better off since his move to the city: he gave his daughter up for adoption to his aunt, and none of his children are in school.
“In the village, we worry more about what we will feed our children than their education,” he said. “I’d like to put them in school, but our financial situation makes that impossible.” He hopes in two years to make enough money to enrol his youngest son.
Sanogo, unable to find work in Bamako, is now planning to go abroad. It is a choice that 70 percent of young migrants make after internal movement fails to produce results, the NGO Mali-Folkecenter said.
Working girls
The situation is worse for young girls, who are increasingly migrating because of poverty and in search money for a dowry. They find work as cooks, maids, nannies and in small businesses.
According to the Association d’aide aux aides ménagères, an agency that places girls looking for work with families, many girls are exploited because they are young, easily manipulated, unaware of their rights and afraid to expose their employers. In the worst of conditions, the association says, they work more than 15 hours a day, are beaten, badly fed, poorly paid and treated like quasi slaves.
“If we don’t go to work in a town to prepare our future as wives, who will? It’s the only way we can afford clothes, shoes and cooking utensils to take back to our village,” said 15-year-old servant Amina Coulibaly. “Our mothers and sisters did the same.”
“We have to give rural youth the means to stay in their communities,” said Soumana Satao, director-general of the government’s Agency for the Promotion of Youth Employment. “Otherwise, we will not be able to stop this rural exodus.”
sd/ha/cb/nr
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[This item comes to you via IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its Member States. Reposting or reproduction, with attribution, for non-commercial purposes is permitted. Terms and conditions: http://www.irinnews.org/copyright.aspx
Posted by sociolingo on May 25th, 2007
There is an interesting debate going on in the H-Africa email list for African history and culture about the so-called Mande Charter. I also found an OECD document which is the report of a workshop in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 2006: The KURUKAN FUGA Charter: An example of an Endogenous Governance Mechanism for Conflict Prevention. You can download the pdf file of the full report HERE.
Etienne Smith gave a very detailed reply to the original query on the H-Africa list about the charter which you may find interesting even if you do disagree with him. (see below).
In the “invention of tradition”; process occurring now in Mali, Senegal and Guinea around this issue, I think we need to distinguish between two so-called “Charts”;: the Charte du Mande (”1222″
and the “Charte de Kurukan Fuga”; (”1236″;). Both versions claim to date back to Sunjata’s reign and his victory against Sosso, but they provide different dates, and the formalised text is somewhat different (texts included below for comparison).
The “Charte du Mandé”; is based on oral traditions of the Mandinka hunters associations and, to my knowledge, was first published in
1991 (Cissé & Kamissoko 1991: 39). It is this version, transcribed by Youssouf Tata Cissé which figures in the 2003 book (Cissé, Fofana & Sagot-Duvauroux 2003) you mentioned.The “Charte de Kurukan Fuga”; was reconstructed by Mandinka « traditionnistes » from Senegal, Mali and Guinea at a workshop on community radios in the Guinean town of Kankan in march 1998. This workshop was financed by the Francophonie and Swiss Cooperation. The traditionnistes first confronted their version in a closed hearing.
The Guinean judge Siriman Kouyaté then translated the proceedings into French and organised it in 44 articles and a Preamble to turn it into the equivalent of a modern constitution (Kouyaté 2003). This constitutional version is supposed to be published soon by the African Union, with a preface by Djibril Tamsir Niane.For the online version of this newly born constitution, see http://www.africa-orale.org/charte.rtf .
Souleymane Kanté (Amselle 2001:198), and before him Djibril Tamsir Niane (Niane 1960:13
already referred to the Kurukan Fuga gathering and statement. The 1236 (sometimes 1235) date, is an invention of the French colonial administrator Maurice Delafosse.
Like the Charte du Mande, the Charte de Kurukan Fuga is presented by its promoters as a “hidden treasury”; from the West African past. It is already the basis for claims of endogenous origins of modern concepts (decentralisation, local democracy, environment conservation, feminism, human rights, cultural diversity, welfare state). In 2000 in Bamako, a calendar of the “year 764 of Kurukan Fuga”; was issued. In Senegal, the Charter of Kurukan Fuga is already included in textbooks next to the Constitution of Senegal and major UN texts on human rights.
West-African intellectuals like Djibril Tamsir Niane, Siriman Kouyaté, Raphaël Ndiaye, Cheikh Hamidou Kane, Martin Faye, Mangoné Niang, Youssouf Tata Cissé are explicitly looking in either of the Charts for equivalents of the Western Magna Carta (1215), Bill of Rights (1628, 1689), Habeas Corpus (1679) and Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen (1789). It is a real transnational cultural enterprise, involving Western NGOs, of codifying great African political “texts”; that can compete with their Western counterparts.
Interestingly, these intellectuals are also promoting the reinvention of joking relationships which are said to have been institutionalised by Sunjata at Kurukan Fuga (article 7 of the reconstructed “chart”;). Let’s be clear that it is more a process of political re-imagination of the past (and thus a statement on the present governance and fragmentation of West Africa) than something to read literally (Canut & Smith 2006: 717-720).**
Charte du Mande (”1222″;). Source : Cissé & Kamissoko 1991: 39.
1. Les chasseurs déclarent :
Toute vie (humaine) est une vie.
Il est vrai qu’une vie apparaît à l’existence avant une autre vie, Mais une vie n’est pas plus “ancienne”, plus respectable qu’une autre vie, De même qu’une vie n’est pas supérieure à une autre vie.
2. Les chasseurs déclarent :
Toute vie étant une vie,
Tout tort causé à une vie exige réparation.
Par conséquent,
Que nul ne s’en prenne gratuitement à son voisin, Que nul ne cause du tort à son prochain, Que nul ne martyrise son semblable.
3. Les chasseurs déclarent :
Que chacun veille sur son prochain,
Que chacun vénère ses géniteurs,
Que chacun éduque comme il se doit ses enfants, Que chacun “entretienne”, pourvoie aux besoins des membres de sa famille.
4. Les chasseurs déclarent :
Que chacun veille sur le pays de ses pères.
Par pays ou patrie, faso,
Il faut entendre aussi et surtout les hommes ; Car “tout pays, toute terre qui verrait les hommes disparaître de sa surface Deviendrait aussitôt nostalgique.”
5. Les chasseurs déclarent :
La faim n’est pas une bonne chose,
L’esclavage n’est pas non plus une bonne chose ; Il n’y a pas pire calamité que ces choses-là, Dans ce bas monde.
Tant que nous détiendrons le carquois et l’arc, La faim ne tuera plus personne au Manden, Si d’aventure la famine venait à sévir ; La guerre ne détruira plus jamais de village Pour y prélever des esclaves ; C’est dire que nul ne placera désormais le mors dans la bouche de son semblable Pour allez le vendre ; Personne ne sera non plus battu, A fortiori mis à mort, Parce qu’il est fils d’esclave.
6. Les chasseurs déclarent :
L’essence de l’esclavage est éteinte ce jour, “D’un mur à l’autre”, d’une frontière à l’autre du Manden ; La razzia est bannie à compter de ce jour au Manden ; Les tourments nés de ces horreurs sont finis à partir de ce jour au Manden.
Quelle épreuve que le tourment !
Surtout lorsque l’opprimé ne dispose d’aucun recours.
L’esclave ne jouit d’aucune considération, Nulle part dans le monde.
7. Les gens d’autrefois nous disent :
“L’homme en tant qu’individu
Fait d’os et de chair,
De moelle et de nerfs,
De peau recouverte de poils et de cheveux, Se nourrit d’aliments et de boissons ; Mais son “âme”, son esprit vit de trois choses :
Voir qui il a envie de voir,
Dire ce qu’il a envie de dire
Et faire ce qu’il a envie de faire ;
Si une seule de ces choses venait à manquer à l’âme humaine, Elle en souffrirait Et s’étiolerait sûrement.”
En conséquence, les chasseurs déclarent :
Chacun dispose désormais de sa personne, Chacun est libre de ses actes, Chacun dispose désormais des fruits de son travail.
Tel est le serment du Manden
A l’adresse des oreilles du monde tout entier.**
Charte de Kurukan Fuga (« 1236 »).
Source: www.afrik.com/IMG/doc/LA_CHARTE_DE_KURUKAN_FUGA.doc
For the English version, see: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/60/55/37341473.pdfI - DE L’ORGANISATION SOCIALE:
Article 1er: La société du grand mandé est divisée en seize (16) porteurs de
carquois, cinq (5) classes de marabouts, quatre classes (4) de
nyamakalas. Chacun de ces groupes a une activité et un rôle
spécifiques.
Article 2: Les nyamakalas se doivent de dire la vérité aux Chefs, d’être leurs
conseillers et de défendre par le verbe les règles établies et l’ordre sur
l’ensemble du royaume.
Article 3: Les morikanda Lolu (les cinq classes de marabouts) sont nos maîtres
et nos éducateurs en islam. Tout le monde leur doit respect et
considération.
Article 4: La société est divisée en classes d’âge. A la tête de chacune d’elles est
élu un chef. Sont de la même classe d’âge les personnes (hommes ou
femmes) nées au cours d’une période de trois années consécutives.
Les Kangbès (classe intermédiaire entre les jeunes et les vieux) doivent être conviés pour participer à la prise des grandes décisions concernant la société.
Article 5: Chacun a le droit à la vie et à la préservation de son intégrité
physique. En conséquence, toute tentation d’enlever la vie à son
prochain est punie de la peine de mort.
Article 6: Pour gagner la bataille de la prospérité, il est institué le Kön¨gbèn
Wölö (un mode de surveillance) pour lutter contre la paresse et
l’oisiveté.Article 7: Il est institué entre les mandenkas le sanankunya (cousinage à
plaisanterie) et le tanamanyöya (forme de totémisme). En
conséquence, aucun différent né entre ces groupes ne doit dégénérer,
le respect de l’autre étant la règle.
Entre beaux-frères et belles-s½urs, entre grands parents et petits-enfants, tolérance et le chahut doivent être le principe.
Article 8: La famille KEITA est désignée famille régnante sur l’empire.Article 9: L’éducation des enfants incombe à l’ensemble de la société. La
puissance paternelle appartient en conséquence à tous.
Article 10: Adressons-nous mutuellement les condoléances.
Article 11: Quand votre femme ou votre enfant fuit, ne le poursuivez pas chez le
voisin.
Article 12 : La succession étant patrilinéaire, ne donnez jamais le pouvoir à un
fils tant qu’un seul de ses pères vit.
Ne donnez jamais le pouvoir à un mineur parce qu’il possède des liens.
Article 13: N’offensez jamais les nyaras.
Article 14: N’offensez jamais les femmes, nos mères.
Article 15: Ne portez jamais la main sur une femme mariée avant d’avoir fait
intervenir sans succès son mari.
Article 16: Les femmes, en plus de leurs occupations quotidiennes doivent être
associées à tous nos Gouvernements.
Article 17: Les mensonges qui ont vécu 40 ans doivent être considérés comme
des vérités.
Article 18: Respectons le droit d’aînesse.
Article 19: Tout homme a deux beaux-parents: Les parents de la fille que l’on
n’a pas eue et la parole qu’on a prononcé sans contrainte aucune. On
leur doit respect et considération.
Article 20: Ne maltraite, pas les esclaves, accordez leur un jour de repos par
semaine et faites en sorte qu’ils cessent le travail à des heures
raisonnables. On est maître de l’esclave et non du sac qu’il porte.
Article 21: Ne poursuivez pas de vos assiduités les épouses: du Chef, du voisin,
du marabout du féticheur, de l’ami et de l’associé.
Article 22: La vanité est le signe de la faiblesse et l’humilité le signe de la
grandeur.
Article 23: Ne vous trahissez jamais entre vous. Respectez la parole d’honneur.
Article 24: Ne faites jamais du tort au étrangers.
Article 25: Le chargé de mission ne risque rien au Mandé.
Article 26: Le taureau confié ne doit pas diriger le parc.
Article 27: La jeune fille peut être donnée en mariage dès qu’elle est pubère sans
détermination d’âge. Le choix de ses parents doit être suivi quelques
soit le nombre des candidats.
Article 28: Le jeune homme peut se marier à partir de 20 ans.
Article 29: La dote est fixée à 3 bovins: un pour la fille, deux pour ses père et
mère.
Article 30: Venons en aide à ceux qui en ont besoin.II - DES BIENS:
Article 31: Il y a cinq façons d’acquérir la propriété: l’achat, la donation,
l’échange, le travail et la succession. Toute autre forme sans
témoignage probant est équivoque.Article 32: Tout objet trouvé sans propriétaire connu ne devient propriété
commune qu’au bout de quatre ans.
Article 33: La quatrième mise-bas d’une génisse confiée est la propriété du
gardien.
Article 34: Un bovin doit être échangé contre quatre moutons ou quatre chèvres.
Article 35: Un ½uf sur quatre est la propriété du gardien de la poule pondeuse.
Article 36: Assouvir sa faim n’est pas du vol si on n’emporte rien dans son sac
ou sa poche.III - DE LA PRESERVATION DE LA NATURE:
Article 37: Fakombè est désigné Chef des chasseurs. Il est chargé de préserver la
brousse et ses habitants pour le bonheur de tous.
Article 38: Avant de mettre le feu à la brousse, ne regardez pas à terre, levez la
tête en direction de la cime des arbres.
Article 39: Les animaux domestiques doivent être attachés au moment des
cultures et libérés après les récoltes. Le chien, le chat, le canard et la
volaille ne sont pas soumis à cette mesure.III - DISPOSITIONS FINALES:
Article 40: Respectez la parenté, le mariage et le voisinage.
Article 41: Tuez votre ennemi, ne l’humiliez pas.
Article 42: Dans les grandes assemblées, contentez vous de vos légitimes
représentants et tolérez-vous les uns les autres.
Article 43: Balla Fassèkè KOUYATE est désigné grand Chef des cérémonies et
médiateur principal du mandé. Il est autorisé à plaisanter avec toutes
les tribus en priorité avec la famille royale.
Article 44: Tous ceux qui enfreindront à ces règles seront punis. Chacun est
chargé de veiller à leur application.References :
AMSELLE, Jean-Loup
2001. Branchements. Anthropologie de l’universalité des cultures, Paris, Flammarion.CANUT, Cécile and SMITH Etienne
2006. “Pactes, alliances et plaisanteries : Pratiques locales, discours global.” Cahiers d’Etudes Africaines 184/46(4):687-754.CISSÉ, Youssouf Tata & KAMISSOKO, Wâ
1991. La grande geste du Mali. Vol. 2 Soundjata ou la gloire du Mali, Paris : Karthala-ARSAN.CISSÉ, Y. T., FOFANA , A. & SAGOT-DUVAUROUX, J-L.
2003 La Charte du Mande et autres traditions du Mali, Paris, Albin MichelKOUYATE, Siriman
2003. Le cousinage à plaisanterie, notre héritage commun, Conakry :
Editions Ganndal.NIANE, Djibril Tamsir
1960. Soundiata ou l’épopée mandingue, Paris : Présence africaine.
I’ve written a fair bit on here about traffic and driving in Mali. Checking on the Mali newspapers I see the good news that a very much needed third bridge across the Niger in Bamako is to be built thanks to the Chinese government.
Here is an artist’s idea of what the new bridge will look like:
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The new bridge will be the largest in Mali, The project is expected to take two years to finish. The bridge will be 1,450 metres in length, 24 metres broad with two lanes in each direction plus cycles tracks and pavements plus a kilometre of access roads. The bridge will also facilitate access to the proposed biggest hospital in Mali at Yirimadio.
It will be financed by the Chinese government and built by Chinese engineering companies to the east of the capital in the area of Sotuba. The Malian government will pay for the link road to Route 6. The President, Amadou Toumani Touré, announced on Thursday 18th May during his inspection of the site together with a Chinese delegation, that work on the bridge is expected to begin towards the end of this year or early in 2008. The contract has been signed between the Malian and Chinese governments. The Chinese government has also agreed to support the construction of a ‘maison des femmes’ (house of women) in each of the 8 regions of the country.
The bridge is part of a general upgrading of Route 6 to a motorway. As part of this projects have been proposed to build two motorways between Bamako and Koulikoro and Bamako and Fana, with another later from Fana to Segou. These will be built by cooperation between Mali and Spain. There is also a proposition to build a new dam - Kénié - on the Niger.
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