What I know about Mali

Boarder Countries: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal.

The 8 regions of Mali are Gao, Kayes, Kidal, Koulikoro, Mopti, Segou, Sikasso, and Tombouctoucotton,

Agricultural products are millet, rice, corn, vegetables, peanuts; cattle, sheep, goats.

Mali is among the poorest countries in the world, with 65% of its land area desert or semidesert and with a highly unequal distribution of income. Economic activity is largely confined to the riverine area irrigated by the Niger. About 10% of the population is nomadic and some 80% of the labor force is engaged in farming and fishing. Industrial activity is concentrated on processing farm commodities. Mali is heavily dependent on foreign aid and vulnerable to fluctuations in world prices for cotton, its main export, along with gold. The government has continued its successful implementation of an IMF-recommended structural adjustment program that is helping the economy grow, diversify, and attract foreign investment. Mali's adherence to economic reform and the 50% devaluation of the CFA franc in January 1994 have pushed up economic growth to a 5% average in 1996-2007. Worker remittances and external trade routes for the landlocked country have been jeopardized by continued unrest in neighboring Cote d'Ivoire.

Political History the Sudanese Republic and Senegal became independent of France in 1960 as the Mali Federation. When Senegal withdrew after only a few months, what formerly made up the Sudanese Republic was renamed Mali. Rule by dictatorship was brought to a close in 1991 by a military coup - led by the current president Amadou TOURE - enabling Mali's emergence as one of the strongest democracies on the continent. President Alpha KONARE won Mali's first democratic presidential election in 1992 and was reelected in 1997. In keeping with Mali's two-term constitutional limit, KONARE stepped down in 2002 and was succeeded by Amadou TOURE, who was subsequently elected to a second term in 2007. The elections were widely judged to be free and fair.

Major Infectious Diseases that are high risk: food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne disease: malaria water contact disease: schistosomiasis
respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis (2008)

Life expectancy in Mali is 49.94 years per the CIA and 57 years per the UN.
(I am 58)

Status of homosexuality: legal age of consent:laws covering homosexual activity: Relevant sections of the Penal Code are as follows;

Mali 1981: Article 179 - Sexual Offence, Public Indecency: Three months to two years of prison and a fine of 20 000 to 200 000 francs.

As it is written it would appear that same-sex acts are not illigal in themselves.

National Geographic recently had an article on the Sahel region in Africa that extends from the Atlantic coast at Dakar Senegal to the Red Sea at Eritrea. In Mali the Sahel is the area just north of Bamako the capital city to just north of Timbuktu. The Sahel is the transition zone at the edge of the Sahara Desert, earth’s largest desert. Sahel is defined by climate. This climate is on the margin between the high rainfall areas of the west African coast - southern Nigeria, for example - and the arid zone of the Sahara. In this zone rainfall is variable. As climate changes the borders of the Sahel move significantly as it has between 1960 and 1997 because of four major droughts in the region.

It has been reported by National Geographic that U.S. Forces are stationed around Timbuktu. This is due to rebel activity reported to be al Qaeda’s North African Wing. The US having learned a lesson in Afghanistan and is taking action sooner rather then later.

There have also been news reports of al Qaeda activity in Mali’s neighboring country of Mauritania. Many Peace Corps volunteers in Mauritania reported this in their blogs.

Because of these reported al Qaeda activities in Mauritania, Mali and other regions of West Africa, the US has taken a renewed interest in Muslim black Africa.

Resources for these facts include the Behind the Mask, (Behind The Mask – a non-profit media organisation publishing a news website intended for gay and lesbian affairs in Africa, was launched on 8 May 2000. This project operated under the Gay and Lesbian Archives of South Africa until 1 January 2003. Since that day Behind The Mask has been operating as an NGO-trust, registered with the South African Department of Welfare.) CIA, United Nations, and National Geographic.