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Mali ex-president Amadou Toumani Toure dies aged 72 | READ DETAILS

chuks oti

Nov 10, 2020

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Mali's former president, Amadou Toumani Toure, who steered the Sahel nation to democracy and led it for a decade before being ousted in a coup, has died in Turkey aged 72, a family member and a doctor said on Tuesday.

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Toure "died during the night of Monday to Tuesday in Turkey,ÔÇØ where he had been taken for health reasons, his nephew Oumar Toure told AFP.

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A doctor in Bamako said the former leader had recently undergone heart surgery in the city's Luxembourg Hospital, which he had helped to found.

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Although "everything seemed to be going wellÔÇØ, Toure was later transferred to Turkey for medical reasons, the doctor said.

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"He took a regular flight to Turkey very recently. Unfortunately, he died overnight,ÔÇØ the source said.

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Toure, a former soldier, first took charge of the country for a year in 1991, helping to overthrow the unpopular regime of Moussa Traore, who had been in power since 1968.

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He took the helm of a transitional committee after the coup, exercising the duties of head of state and steering the country to elections, won in 1992 by Alpha Oumar Konare - the first democratically-chosen president in Mali's post-independence history.

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Universally known by his initials as ATT, Toure won presidential elections in 2002 and again in 2007.

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But he was overthrown in 2012 by mutinous soldiers who accused him of failing to support their battle against both Tuareg rebels and jihadist insurgents.

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The chaos that followed was hugely destructive for Mali's poorly-equipped and demoralised army.

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The jihadists swiftly overran the north of the country before being forced out in 2013 by French intervention.

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They then regrouped and expanded into central Mali, a flashpoint region where they ignited bloody ethnic conflict, and then advanced into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

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Thousands have died and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.

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In August this year, a new chapter was written in Mali's tale of chronic instability when the military ousted the elected president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, after mounting protests.

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Some of the officers involved in this coup were also active in Toure's overthrow, including the current regime's No. 2, Colonel Malick Daw.

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Pressured by Mali's neighbours, the putschists have set up a transitional presidency and government and promised to return to civilian rule within 18 months.

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