Tiébilé Dramé (born June 9, 1955"Présidentielle 2007: les 8 candidats"
, ''L'Essor'', April 3, 2007 .) is a

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who served in the

government of Mali Until the military coup of March 22, 2012 and a second military coup in December 2012 the politics of Mali took place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Mali is head of state with ...

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

from 1991 to 1992. In the years since, he has remained active on the political scene, while also acting as a

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

and

mediator Mediation is a structured, voluntary process for resolving disputes, facilitated by a neutral third party known as the mediator. It is a structured, interactive process where an independent third party, the mediator, assists disputing parties ...

in regional crises. Since May 6, 2019 again served as the

until the

2020 Malian coup d'état On 18 August 2020, elements of the Malian Armed Forces began a mutiny, and subsequently undertook a coup d'état. Soldiers on pick-up trucks stormed the Soundiata military base in the town of Kati, where gunfire was exchanged before weapons w ...

Life and career

Dramé was born in

Nioro du Sahel Nioro du Sahel (often referred to as simply Nioro) is a town and urban commune in the Kayes Region of western Mali, 241 km from the city of Kayes. It is located 275 miles (by road) north-west of the Malian capital Bamako. As of 1998, the co ...

. He studied at the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Bamako before obtaining his Advanced studies diploma (French: ''Diplôme d'études avancées'', DEA, an advanced pre-doctoral degree) in

African history Archaic humans emerged out of Africa between 0.5 and 1.8 million years ago. This was followed by the emergence of modern humans (''Homo sapiens'') in East Africa around 300,000–250,000 years ago. In the 4th millennium BC written history ...

from the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

(I). His political activity began during his studies. From 1977 to 1980, he was one of leaders of the Malian National Students' Union (''Union Nationale des Elèves et Etudiants du Mali'', UNEEM), which opposed

Moussa Traoré Moussa Traoré (25 September 1936 – 15 September 2020) was a Malian military officer, politician, and dictator who served as the second President of Mali from 1968 to 1991. As a lieutenant, he led the military ousting of President Modibo Ke� ...

's regime in Mali. Dramé was imprisoned on several occasions for his opposition to the regime. He then went into exile in Europe, where he worked for

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

from 1988 to 1991. He conducted surveys on the

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

situation in West Africa. A militant for the Malian

National Congress for Democratic Initiative The National Congress for Democratic Initiative (; ) is a political party in Mali, founded in 1990 and led by Mountaga Tall. In the first presidential election following the transition to democracy, held in 1992, Mountaga Tali received 11.41% of ...

(''Congrès national d’initiative démocratique'', CNID), Dramé returned to Mali when

Amadou Toumani Touré Amadou Toumani Touré (4 November 19489 November 2020), also popularly known in Mali by his initials ATT (), was a Malian politician. He supervised Mali's first multiparty elections as chairman of the transitional government (1991–1992), and la ...

toppled Traoré's regime in 1991. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs in the transitional government from 1991 to 1992. In 1995, he was a consultant for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

to prepare a human rights survey operation in

Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...

. That same year, in disagreement with Mountaga Tall, founder of the CNID, he left the party with other militants to found the Party for National Renaissance (''Parti pour la renaissance nationale'', PARENA), of which he was elected Secretary-General. In 1996, he was appointed as Minister of Arid and Semi-Arid Zones in

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 ...

's government. He was elected to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

as a Deputy from

in 1997. In November 1999, he became President of PARENA. In 2001, he was elected as President of the

West African Economic and Monetary Union The West African Economic and Monetary Union, generally referred in English to by its French acronym UEMOA (for Union Économique et Monétaire Ouest-Africaine) and alternatively as WAEMU, is a treaty-based arrangement binding together eight West ...

(UEMOA). He ran in the April 2002 presidential election and obtained 3.99% of the votes, taking fourth place. On February 18, 2007, he was nominated as the candidate of PARENA for the April 2007 presidential election. According to official results, Touré won the election by a landslide, while Dramé took third place and 3.04% of the vote. As part of the Front for Democracy and the Republic, a coalition that also included three other presidential candidates, Dramé disputed the results and sought for the election to be annulled, alleging fraud. The list on which Dramé was running in Nioro du Sahel in the July 2007 parliamentary election (together with

ADEMA Adema () is an American rock band from Bakersfield, California. The band formed in 2000 with members vocalist Mark Chavez, guitarist Tim Fluckey, guitarist Mike Ransom, bassist Dave DeRoo, and drummer Kris Kohls. After their first two albums ...

and the Union for the Republic and Democracy) was rejected by the Constitutional Court, which said that he had multiple birth certificates. Dramé acted as a

envoy dealing with the early 2009 political crisis in Madagascar."Madagascar opposition chief under UN protection"
Agence France-Presse, 9 March 2009. Also a journalist, Dramé founded the weekly newspaper ''Le républicain'' ("The Republican") in 1992. Since May 6, 2019, Tiébilé Dramé serves as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of Mali, within the frame of the political agreement signed by the majority and the opposition.

References

Notes

* This article is based on a translation of the corresponding article from the French Wikipedia, accessed on 28 April 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Drame, Tiebile 1955 births Living people Members of the National Assembly (Mali) Malian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Mali People from Kayes Region Ministers of foreign affairs of Mali 21st-century Malian people