Timeline

TIMELINE

A troubled land

France and west African states want to stop Mali from being overrun by militants, a development they say would give Al Qaida-linked terrorists a base for destabilizing the region and Europe akin to Yemen or Somalia.

11th century: Empire of Mali becomes dominant force in the upper Niger basin, its period of greatness beginning under King Sundiata in 1235 and peaking under Mansa Musa who ruled between 1312 and 1337 and extended empire to the Atlantic.

14th-15th centuries: Decline of the Empire of Mali, which loses dominance of the gold trade to the Songhai Empire, which makes its base in Timbuktu - historically important as a focal point of Islamic culture and a trading post on the trans-Saharan caravan route.

Late 16th century: Moroccans defeat the Songhai, make Timbuktu their capital and rule until their decline in the 18th century.

19th century: French colonial advance, and Islamic religious wars which lead to creation of theocratic states.

1898: France completes conquest of Mali, then called French Sudan.

1959: Mali and Senegal form the Mali Federation, which splits a year later.

1960: Mali becomes independent with Modibo Keita as president. It becomes a one-party, socialist state and withdraws from the Franc zone.

1968: Keita ousted in coup led by Lieutenant Moussa Traore.

1977: Protests erupt following Keita’s death in prison.

1979: New constitution provides for elections; Traore re-elected president.

1991: Traore deposed in coup and replaced by transitional committee.

1992: Alpha Konare wins multiparty elections to become Mali’s first democratically-elected president.

1995: Peace agreement with Tawareq tribes leads to return of thousands of refugees.

1999: Former President Moussa Traore sentenced to death on corruption charges, but has his sentence commuted to life imprisonment by President Konare.

2002 April Amadou Toumani Toure elected president by landslide. Poll is marred by allegations of fraud.

October: Government resigns, without public explanation. New “government of national unity” is unveiled.

2004 April: Prime Minister Mohamed Ag Amani resigns and is replaced by Ousmane Issoufi Maiga.

2006 June: The government signs an Algerian-brokered peace deal with Tawareq rebels seeking greater autonomy for their northern desert region

2007 April: President Toure wins a second five-year term in elections.

August: Suspected Tawareq rebels abduct government soldiers in separate incidents near the Niger and Algerian borders.

2009 May: Algeria begins sending military equipment to Mali in preparation for a joint operation against Islamic militants linked to Al Qaida.

2010 April: Mali, Algeria, Mauritania and Niger set up joint command to tackle threat of terrorism.

2012 January: Fears of new Tawareq rebellion following attacks on northern towns which prompt civilians to flee into Mauritania.

March: Military officers depose President Toure ahead of the April presidential elections, accusing him of failing to deal effectively with the Tawareq rebellion. African Union suspends Mali.

April: Tawareq rebels seize control of northern Mali, declare independence. Military hands over to a civilian interim government, led by President Dioncounda Traore.

May: Junta reasserts control after an alleged coup attempt by supporters of ousted President Toure in Bamako. Pro-junta protesters storm presidential compound and beat Traore unconscious. Rebel groups merge and declare northern Mali to be an Islamic state. Al Qaida in North Africa endorses the deal.

June-July: Ansar Dine and its Al Qaida ally turn on the MNLA and capture the main northern cities of Timbuktu, Kidal and Gao.

August: Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra forms a new government of national unity in order to satisfy regional demands for a transition from military-dominated rule. The cabinet of 31 ministers includes five seen as close to coup leader Capt Amadou Sanogo. Rebels continue to advance over coming months.

November: The West African regional grouping Ecowas agrees to launch a military expedition to recapture the north at a meeting in Nigeria, with UN and African Union backing.

December: Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra resigns, under pressure from army leaders who oppose plans for military intervention. President Traore appoints a presidential official, Django Sissoko, to succeed him

2013 January: President Francois Hollande says France is intervening to stop Al Qaida linked fighters

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