Word: toumani
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...story of Mali's ascent out of poverty begins at 6 a.m. on March 26, 1991. Then Lieut. Colonel Amadou Toumani Toure--called A.T.T. by everyone--went on the radio to announce that he had just arrested his commanding general, the nation's President, and taken control. "I said that as soon as minimum security was established we would organize elections," recalls Toure. "And as soon as the elections were held, we would go back to our barracks...
Promising to replace Traore's "bloodthirsty and corrupt regime" with multiparty democracy, the coup leaders quickly formed a 17-man National Reconciliation Council headed by Lieut. Colonel Amadou Toumani Toure, 43, commander of the parachute forces. The council has announced plans to form a 25-member interim administration, which will hold multiparty elections by 1992. But democracy still faces a stiff challenge in this drought-prone nation of 8 million, one of the world's poorest countries. While the coup brought the chance of greater freedom, it also continued the pattern of violent overthrows plaguing the continent...