Editing Mali (section)

=== Multi-party democracy ===
Opposition parties were legalized, a transitional government was formed and a national congress of civil and political groups met to draft a [[Constitution of Mali|new democratic constitution]] to be approved by a national referendum.<ref name="nesbitt"/><ref name=p3/> In 1992, [[Alpha Oumar Konaré]] won Mali's first democratic, multi-party presidential election, before being re-elected for a second term in 1997, which was the last allowed under the constitution. [[Amadou Toumani Touré]], a retired general who had been the leader of the military aspect of the 1991 democratic uprising, was elected in 2002.<ref name=p4>[[#Prof|Mali country profile]], p. 4.</ref> During this democratic period Mali was regarded as one of the most politically and socially stable countries in Africa.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20101111133055/http://www.usaid.gov/locations/sub-saharan_africa/countries/mali/ USAID Africa: Mali]. USAID. Retrieved 15 May 2008. Retrieved 3 June 2008.</ref>

[[Slavery in modern Africa|Slavery]] persists in Mali today with as many as 200,000 people held in direct servitude to a master.<ref name=slaves/> In the [[Tuareg Rebellion (2012)|Tuareg Rebellion of 2012]], ex-slaves were a vulnerable population with reports of some slaves being recaptured by their former masters.<ref>{{cite news|last=York|first=Geoffrey|title=Mali chaos gives rise to slavery, persecution|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=11 November 2012|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/mali-chaos-gives-rise-to-slavery-persecution/article5186368/|location=Toronto|access-date=4 September 2017|archive-date=29 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161129023715/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/mali-chaos-gives-rise-to-slavery-persecution/article5186368/|url-status=live}}</ref>