Modibo Keïta (4 June 1915 – 16 May 1977) was the first
President of Mali (1960–1968) and the Prime Minister of the
Mali Federation. He espoused a form of
African socialism
African socialism or Afrosocialism is a belief in sharing economic resources in a traditional African way, as distinct from classical socialism. Many African politicians of the 1950s and 1960s professed their support for African socialism, althou ...
.
Youth
Keïta was born in
Bamako-Coura, a neighborhood of Bamako, which was at the time the capital of
French Sudan
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Fra ...
. His family were Malian Muslims who claimed direct descent from the Keita dynasty, the founders of the medieval
Mali Empire
The Mali Empire (Manding: ''Mandé''Ki-Zerbo, Joseph: ''UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. IV, Abridged Edition: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century'', p. 57. University of California Press, 1997. or Manden; ar, مالي, Māl� ...
. His nickname after primary schooling was Modo. He was educated in Bamako and at the
école normale William-Ponty in
Dakar
Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...
, where he was top of his class. Beginning in 1936, he worked as a teacher in Bamako,
Sikasso and
Tombouctou. He married
Mariam Travélé, who was also a teacher, in September 1939.
Entering politics
Modibo Keïta was involved in various associations. In 1937, he was the coordinator of the art and theater group. Along with
Ouezzin Coulibaly, he helped found the Union of French West African Teachers.
Keïta joined the
Communist Study Groups Communist Study Groups (in French: ''Groupes d'Etudes Communistes''), was a communist group in colonial French West Africa/French Equatorial Africa. GEC was founded in 1943, under the influence of the French Communist Party. GEC formed branches in ...
(GEC) cell in Bamako.
In 1943, he founded the ''L'oeil de Kénédougou'', a magazine critical of colonial rule. This led to his imprisonment for three weeks in 1946 at the ''Prison de la Santé'' in Paris.
In 1945 Keïta was a candidate for the Constituent Assembly of the
French Fourth Republic
The French Fourth Republic (french: Quatrième république française) was the republican government of France from 27 October 1946 to 4 October 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Re ...
, supported by GEC and the
Sudanese Democratic Party. Later the same year, he and
Mamadou Konaté founded the ''Bloc soudanais'', which developed into the
Sudanese Union.
Political life
In October 1946, the
African Democratic Rally (RDA) was created at a conference in Bamako of delegates from across French Africa. While the coalition was led by
Félix Houphouët-Boigny
Félix Houphouët-Boigny (; 18 October 1905 – 7 December 1993), affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux ("The Old One"), was the first president of Ivory Coast, serving from 1960 until his death in 1993. A tribal chief, he wo ...
, Keïta assumed the post of RDA Secretary-General in
French Sudan
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Fra ...
, and head of the Soudanese affiliate: the
US-RDA. In 1948, he was elected general councilor of French Sudan. In 1956, he was elected mayor of Bamako and became a member of the
National Assembly of France
The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are know ...
. He twice served as secretary of state in the governments of
Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury and
Félix Gaillard
Félix Gaillard d'Aimé (;
5 November 1919 – 10 July 1970) was a French Radical politician who served as Prime Minister under the Fourth Republic from 1957 to 1958. He was the youngest head of a French government since Napoleon.
Career
A ...
. Modibo Keïta became the premier of
Mali Federation in 1959. He was elected constituent assembly president of the
Mali Federation on 20 July 1960, which consisted of French Sudan and Senegal. Senegal would later leave the federation.
President of Mali
After the collapse of the federation, the US-RDA proclaimed the
Sudanese Republic
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic ...
's complete independence as the Republic of Mali. Keïta became its first president, and soon afterward declared the US-RDA to be the only legal party.
As a socialist, he led his country towards the progressive socialization of the economy; at first starting with agriculture and trade, then in October 1960 creating the SOMIEX (Malian Import and Export Company), which had a monopoly over the exports of the products of Mali, as well as manufactured and food imports (e.g.
sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or do ...
,
tea,
powdered milk) and their distribution inside the country. The establishment of the Malian franc in 1962, and the difficulties of provisioning, resulted in a severe inflation and dissatisfaction of the population, particularly the peasants and the businessmen.
The authorities are also trying to introduce tough anti-slavery policies, which persist in some parts of the country despite the official ban.
In June 1961, he paid a state visit to the United Kingdom, where Queen
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states durin ...
invested him as an honorary Knight Grand Cross of the
Order of Saint Michael and Saint George. Although Keïta was initially viewed with some wariness by the United States because of his socialist views, he made it clear that he sought good relations with Washington. In September 1961, he travelled to America in the company of
Sukarno
Sukarno). (; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, ; 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967.
Sukarno was the leader of ...
and met with President
John F. Kennedy. Keïta, afterward, felt that he had a friend in Kennedy.
On the political level, Modibo Keïta quickly imprisoned opponents like
Fily Dabo Sissoko
Fily Dabo Sissoko was a Malian writer and political leader, born 15 May 1900 at Horokoto ( French Soudan, now in Mali's Bafoulabé Cercle). He died 30 June 1964, imprisoned at Kidal. Fily Dabo Sissoko is chiefly remembered as one of the most inf ...
. The first post-independence elections, in
1964, saw a single list of 80 US-RDA candidates returned to the National Assembly, and Keïta was duly reelected to another term as president by the legislature. From 1967, he started the "revolution active" and suspended the constitution by creating the
National Committee for the Defense of the Revolution (CNDR). The exactions of the "milice populaire" (the US-RDA militia) and the devaluation of the Malian franc in 1967 brought general unrest.
On 19 November 1968, General
Moussa Traoré
Moussa Traoré (25 September 1936 – 15 September 2020) was a Malian soldier, politician, and dictator who was President of Mali from 1968 to 1991. As a Lieutenant, he led the military ousting of President Modibo Keïta in 1968. Thereafter ...
overthrew Modibo Keïta in a
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
, and sent him to prison in the northern Malian town of
Kidal
Kidal ( Tuareg Berber: ⴾⴸⵍ, KDL, Kidal) is a town and commune in the desert region of northern Mali. The town lies northeast of Gao and is the capital of the Kidal Cercle and the Kidal Region. The commune has an area of about and incl ...
.
After being transferred back to the capital Bamako in February 1977 in what was claimed to be an action by the government towards national reconciliation in preparation for his release, Modibo Keïta died, still a prisoner, on May 16, 1977. His reputation was rehabilitated in 1992 following the overthrow of Moussa Traoré and subsequent elections of president
Alpha Oumar Konaré
Alpha Oumar Konaré (born 2 February 1946) is a Malian politician, who served as President of Mali for two five-year terms from 1992 to 2002 and was Chairperson of the African Union Commission from 2003 to 2008.
Scholarly career
Alpha Oumar K ...
. A monument to Modibo Keïta was dedicated in Bamako on June 6, 1999.
As a Pan-Africanist
Modibo Keïta devoted his entire life to African unity. He first played a part in the creation of the
Federation of Mali
The Mali Federation ( ar, اتحاد مالي) was a federation in West Africa linking the French colonies of Senegal and the Sudanese Republic (or French Sudan) for two months in 1960. It was founded on 4 April 1959 as a territory with self-r ...
with
Léopold Sédar Senghor. After its collapse, he moved away from Léopold Sédar Senghor, but with
Sékou Touré, the president of Guinea, and
Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah (born 21 September 190927 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957. An ...
, the President of Ghana, he formed the
Union of the States of Western Africa. In 1963, he played an important role in drafting the charter of the
Organization of African Unity (OAU).
In 1963, he invited the king of Morocco and the president of Algeria to Bamako, in the hope of ending the
Sand War, a frontier conflict between the two nations. Along with
Emperor Haile Selassie
Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia ('' ...
of Ethiopia, Keïta was successful in negotiating the
Bamako Accords, which brought an end to the conflict. As a result, he won the
Lenin Peace Prize that year.
From 1963 to 1966, he normalized relations with the countries of Senegal, Upper Volta and Côte d'Ivoire. An advocate of the
Non-Aligned Movement
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide.
The movement originated in the aftermath ...
, Modibo defended the nationalist movements like the Algerian
National Liberation Front (FLN).
In literature
Malian author
Massa Makan Diabaté
Massa Makan Diabaté (June 12, 1938 – January 27, 1988) was a Malian historian, author, and playwright.
Biography
Born in 1938 in Kita, Massa Makan Diabaté was the descendant of a long line of West African poets (griots). His uncle, Kélé ...
satirizes Keïta's presidency in his 1979 novel ''
Le boucher de Kouta'' (''The Butcher of Kouta''), which features a socialist, dictatorial president named "Bagabaga Daba" (literally, "ant with a big mouth"), who is later removed by a military coup.
[Sangare, Mamadou. ''L'histoire et le roman dans la trilogie Kouta de Massa Makan Diabate.'' Paris: Septentrion, 1999, p. 128.]
Notes
References
* Portions of this article were translated from the French-language Wikipedia article
:fr:Modibo Keïta.
memorialmodibokeita.org: Biographie"Modibo Keita." ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 6 October 2008.
The Big Read : Modibo Keïta: A devoted pan-africanist ''The Daily Observer'' (Gambia), Friday, 4 September 2008.
*Francis G. Snyder. "The Political Thought of Modibo Keita". ''The Journal of Modern African Studies'', Vol. 5, No. 1 (May 1967), pp. 79–106
*John N. Hazard. "Mali's Socialism and the Soviet Legal Model". ''The Yale Law Journal'', Vol. 77, No. 1 (November 1967), pp. 28–69
Modibo Keita (1915 - 1977) The Presidency of South Africa (2006).
*A N'fa Diallo
Mali, 48 ans après : Socialisme, dictature, révolte et révolution ''Le National'' (Bamako), 16 September 2008.
22 septembre : Le souvenir d’un grand jour Hady Barry, ''Nouvel Horizon'' (Bamako), 19 September 2008.
*Abdrahamane Dicko
"De l’Union française à l’indépendance : Que de chemins parcourus !" ''
Les Echos'' (Bamako), 19 September 2008
Modibo Kéita: MALI Francis Kpatindé, ''
Jeune Afrique
''Jeune Afrique'' (English: ''Young Africa'') is a French-language pan-African weekly news magazine, founded in 1960 in Tunis and subsequently published in Paris. It is the most widely read pan-African magazine. It is also a book publisher, under ...
'', 25 April 2000.
*Rosa De Jorio,
"Narratives of the Nation and Democracy in Mali. A View from Modibo Keita’s Memorial" ''
Cahiers d'études africaines'', 172, 2003.
page on the French National Assembly website
External links
modibokeita.free.fr: Site devoted to Modibo Keita : portrait, discussion, photos, and videos.Article du journal Le FlambeauBamako, Mali.(Organe de la Jeunesse Union Africaine - Mali): Modibo Keita "Notre liberté serait un mot vide de sens si nous devions toujours dépendre financièrement de tel ou tel pays".
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keita, Modibo
1915 births
1977 deaths
People from Bamako
People of French West Africa
Modibo
Malian Muslims
Sudanese Union – African Democratic Rally politicians
Presidents of Mali
Prime Ministers of Mali
Foreign Ministers of Mali
Deputies of the 3rd National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic
Deputies of the 1st National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic
African socialism
Malian pan-Africanists
Leaders ousted by a coup
Malian prisoners and detainees
Prisoners and detainees of Mali
Lenin Peace Prize recipients
Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
Recipients of the Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo
Heads of government who were later imprisoned
Muslim socialists