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General Information
Area: 1,240,192 sq km (478,841 sq miles).
Population: 10,960,000 (1999).
Population Density: 8.8 per sq km.
Capital: Bamako. Population: 809,552 (1996).
GEOGRAPHY: Mali is a landlocked republic, sharing borders with Mauritania, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Niger and Senegal. It is a vast land of flat plains fed by two major rivers, the Senegal on its western edge and the great River Niger. On its journey north the Niger converges with the River Bani, and forms a rich inland delta, the marshlands of the Macina, stretching for some 450km (280 miles) along the river’s length, in some places 200km (124 miles) wide. The central part of the country is arid grazing land, called the Sahel, which has suffered great drought. At Timbuktu, the Niger reaches the desert and here it turns first to the east, then to the southeast at Bourem, where it heads for the ocean. In the desert, near the Algerian and Niger borders in the northeast, the Adrar des Iforas massif rises 800m (2625ft). The north of the country is true desert except for the few oases along the ancient trans-Sahara camel routes. Tuaregs still live around these oases and camel routes. Further south live the Peulh cattle-raising nomads. The majority of the population lives in the savannah region in the south. The peoples of this region comprise Songhai, Malinke, Senoufou, Dogon and the Bambara (the largest ethnic group).
Government: Republic. Gained independence from France in 1960. Head of State: President Amadou Toumani Toure since June 2002. Head of Government: Prime Minister Mandé Sidibé since 2000.
Language: The official language is French. There are a number of local languages.
Religion: Muslim (80 per cent), with Animist (18 per cent) and Christian (1.2 per cent) minorities.
Time: GMT.
Electricity: 220 volts AC, 50Hz in Bamako. Larger towns in Mali have their own locally-generated supply.
Communications:
Telephone
Limited IDD service. Country code: 223. Outgoing international calls must be made via the international operator. These are expensive and collect calls cannot be made from Mali.
Mobile telephone
GSM 900 networks exist. Operators include Malitel-SA (website: www.malitel.com).
Internet
Main ISPs include the national telecom operator Société du Télécommunications du Mali (Sotelma) (website: www.sotelma.ml) and four private companies MaliNet (website: www.malinet.ml), Cefib (website: www.cefib.com), Datatech (website: www.datatech.toolnet.org) and Spider (website: www.spider.toolnet.org). There is an Internet cafe in Bamako.
Post
International post is limited to main towns and the central post office. Airmail to Europe takes approximately two weeks. For further details, contact the Embassy.
Press
There are no English-language newspapers. The other dailies, including L’Essor (website: www.essor.gov.ml), Les Echos, Info Matin and Le Républicain, are published in French.
BBC World Service and Voice of America frequencies: From time to time these change.
BBC (website: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice):
Voice of America (website: www.voa.gov):
Copyright © 2003 Columbus Publishing Ltd.
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