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A.C.N - Aid to the Church in Need Italian Office |
Religious Freedom in
the Majority Islamic Countries |
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Mali Population:
9,945,000
The state of Mali was born as an independent state in 1960, when French Sudan withdrew from the federation which united it to Senegal and assumed its present name. The population comprises 23 different ethnic groups, including the Tuareg, with whom there are high tensions, often breaking out into open conflict with the authorities. The present regime goes back to the insurrection of 1992 which overthrew General Traoré, who had been in power since 1968. The current President, Alpha Oumar Konaré, is the country's first democratically elected president. In an interview given to Le Monde on February 2 1993, he declared that "the path of religious fundamentalism is the negation of the very identity of African culture, which is rooted in diversity". Although the Islam of Mali is one of "dialogue and encounter" - as Bishop Julien Sidibé of Ségou has put it - the activity of fundamentalist groups, financially supported by Saudi Arabia, is a significant feature. The inter-religious dialogue in Mali has known moments of success that would be unthinkable elsewhere; the prospects for this dialogue were at the centre of the meeting on February 12 1998 between the Holy Father and President Konaré of Mali. The latter, on the occasion of the installation of the new Archbishop of Mali, Monsignor Jean Zerbo, sent a message on October 25 1998 in which he praised among others things the contribution of the Christian community to the social and spiritual development of the country. |
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