Alpha Oumar Konaré with George W. Bush

Alpha Oumar Konaré (born 1946) was the president of Mali for two five-year terms, from 1992 to 2002 and has been Chairman of the Commission of the African Union since 2003. President George W. Bush talks with Mali President Alpha Konare during his meeting with African presidents in the Cabinet Room, Thursday, June 28, 2001. ... President George W. Bush talks with Mali President Alpha Konare during his meeting with African presidents in the Cabinet Room, Thursday, June 28, 2001. ... 1946 was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... 1992 is a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Anthem: Let us all unite and celebrate together Official languages The African languages, as well as Arabic, English, French and Portuguese Some member states have other official languages. ... 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Legacy

In his decade as president, Mr Konare. lost a good deal of things, not the least of which was the trust of many Malians who had first elected him in 1992. President is a title held by many leaders of organizations, companies, universities, and countries. ...

Konare achieved little in the battle against poverty. Yet he remained ever the ecentric, one day appearing in drab brown suits that he might have worn during his student days in Poland, the next looking every inch the Alhaji that he is, in a magnificent flowing gown or "boubou". Alhaji or Al-Hajj is simply a term of respect used to address a Muslim who has completed one of the Five Pillars of Islam by going on the Hajj, or religious pilgrimage to Mecca. ...

Right to the very end of his tenure, he could and would preach for hours about democracy and development and fighting corruption and poverty - all the buzz words and lofty causes that donors and diplomats love to hear from the mouth an African president.

But Malians themselves had grown tired of the rhetoric and Mr Konare's contradictions - the disparity between what he said and what he actually did.

Even many of those close to him had had enough of his showmanship, his manipulative and divisive politicking, and his grand-standing on the international stage as Africa's model democrat.

Vision

Presently, Malians are pleased and proud to see their former president now on that stage as chairman of the African Union. Anthem: Let us all unite and celebrate together Official languages The African languages, as well as Arabic, English, French and Portuguese Some member states have other official languages. ...

Even his most strident critics agree that Mr Konare, at the age of 57, has the intellect, experience and the Pan-Africanism vision needed to chair the African Union. Pan-Africanism is a term which can have two separate, but related meanings. ...

As chairman of the regional West African body, Ecowas, Mr. Konare called for a Federal Republic of West Africa, and he earned worldwide praise for restoring peace to Mali after years of ethnic Tuareg rebellion. West Africa is the region of western Africa generally considered to include these countries: Benin Burkina Faso Cameroon Côte dIvoire (Ivory Coast) Equatorial Guinea Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Liberia Mali Niger Nigeria Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville) Senegal Sierra Leone Togo Chad, Mauritania, and... The Economic Community of West African States is a regional group of fifteen countries, founded on May 28, 1975 when 15 West African countries signed the Treaty of Lagos. ... The Tuareg are an African ethnic group or nation. ...

He is also remembered as the man who brought the continent's greatest football tournament, the African Cup of Nations, to Mali in 2002. The African Nations Cup (more formally the African Cup of Nations) is the main national football competition for CAF nations. ...