| | In March 1991 tens of thousands of Malians took to the streets over three consecutive days to demonstrate for democracy and multi-partyism and were fired upon by government troops. Over 150 people were killed and hundreds wounded. The wave of democratic movements in Eastern Europe has had a 'demonstration effect' on aspirations for political reform in Mali and elsewhere in French West Africa. The basic impetus of the democratic movement in Mali, however, was the people's outrage at the corruption which had come to characterise the Traore regime. |
