Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga (; 8 June 1954 – 21 March 2022) was a Malian politician who was the

Prime Minister of Mali This is a list of prime ministers of Mali since the country gained independence from France in 1960 to the present day. A total of seventeen people have served as Prime Minister of Mali (not counting five acting prime ministers). Additionally, ...

between 30 December 2017 and 18 April 2019. The leader of the

Alliance for Solidarity in Mali The Alliance for Solidarity in Mali–Convergence of Patriotic Forces (french: Alliance pour la Solidarité au Mali–Convergence des forces patriotiques, ASMA-CFP) is a political party in Mali led by Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga.

, he had previously served in the government of Mali as Minister of Foreign Affairs under President

Amadou Toumani Touré Amadou Toumani Touré (4 November 19489 November 2020) was a Malian politician. He supervised Mali's first multiparty elections as chairman of the transitional government (1991–1992), and later became the second democratically-elected Presiden ...

from 5 April 2011 until the March 2012 coup d'état. Later he was Minister of Defense from 2013 to 2014 and was Secretary-General of the Presidency from 2016 to 2017.

Early life and career

Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga was born in

Gao Gao , or Gawgaw/Kawkaw, is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley. For much of its history Gao was an impor ...

on 8 June 1954. He studied journalism from

Cheikh Anta Diop University Cheikh Anta Diop University (french: Université Cheikh Anta Diop or UCAD), also known as the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar, is a university in Dakar, Senegal. It is named after the Senegalese physicist, historian and anthropologist Chei ...

's Center for the Study of Information Science and Technology. In 1987, he graduated from the

Paris-Sud University Paris-Sud University (French: ''Université Paris-Sud''), also known as University of Paris — XI (or as Université d'Orsay before 1971), was a French research university distributed among several campuses in the southern suburbs of Paris, in ...

with a Diploma of Specialized Higher Studies (DESS) in diplomacy and international organisation management. Soumeylou also held a master's degree in international economic relations from Paris's Institut d'administration. He began his career as a journalist at L'Essor and then worked at the Malian Press and Advertising Agency's magazine Sunjata.

Political career

As first vice-president of

ADEMA-PASJ The Alliance for Democracy in Mali – African Party for Solidarity and Justice (french: Alliance pour la démocratie au Mali – Parti africain pour la solidarité et la justice, ADEMA-PASJ) is a political party in Mali. On October 25, 1990, oppo ...

, Maïga opposed the party's decision to support President Amadou Toumani Touré's bid for re-election in the April 2007 presidential election, and he was consequently expelled from the party. Along with several other ministers, he was arrested during the coup when rebel soldiers stormed the presidential palace on 22 March 2012. On 25 March, he began a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

along with 13 other arrested officials to protest his detention. After

Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (; 29 January 1945 – 16 January 2022), often known by his initials IBK, was a Malian politician who served as the president of Mali from September 2013 to August 2020, when he was forced to resign in the 2020 Malian cou ...

won the 2013 presidential election, Maïga was appointed to the government as Minister of Defense on 8 September 2013. He was replaced by Bah Ndaw following the army's defeat at the hands of

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Alg ...

rebels in

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 ...

in May 2014. Although some blamed him for the defeat, others believed he was being used as a scapegoat. On 29 August 2016, he was appointed Secretary-General of the Presidency with the rank of minister. Maïga was named Prime Minister on 30 December 2017. He resigned on 18 April 2019 amid public protests following the Ogossagou massacre.

Personal life and death

Maiga died in detention in Bamako on 21 March 2022 at the age of 67.

References

External links

Official campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maiga, Soumeylou Boubeye 1954 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Malian people 21st-century Malian people Foreign Ministers of Mali Government ministers of Mali Heads of government who were later imprisoned Malian people who died in prison custody People from Gao Prime Ministers of Mali Prisoners who died in Malian detention