Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta

Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta is a Malian politican, born January 29 1945 in Koutiala, Mali. He is currently President of the National Assembly of Mali, having previously served as Prime Minister.

Keïta studied at the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly in Paris and Lycée Askia-Mohamed in Bamako, continuing his education at the University of Dakar, the University of Paris I and the Institut d'Histoire des Relations Internationales Contemporaines (IHRIC; Institute of the Modern History of International Relations). He has a Master's degree in History and an additional graduate degree in Political Science and International Relations.

After his studies, he was a researcher at the CNRS and taught courses on Third World politics at the University of Paris I. Returning to Mali, he bacame a technical consultant for the European Development Fund, putting together the first small-scale development program for the European Union's aid activities in Mali. He went on to become Mali director for the French chapter of Terre des Hommes, an international NGO aiding children in the developing world.

As an activist for the Malian Alliance for Democracy (ADEMA-PASJ), Keïta was the campaign chairman for Alpha Oumar Konaré's successful presidential campaign in 1992. The new president named him as his senior diplomatic adviser and spokesperson in June 1992, and then in November of the same year appointed him ambassador to Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Burkina Faso and Niger.

In November 1993, he became the Malian Minister of External Affairs, Malians abroad, and African Integration. On February 4 1994, President Alpha Oumar Konaré named him Prime Minister, a position he held until February 2000. He was also president of the Alliance for Democracy, and in 1999 he was named Vice-President of the Socialist International.

Disagreements within his party forced him to resign as Prime Minister on February 14 2000, and then from the leadership of the party that October. He quit the Alliance for Democracy and founded his own party, the Rally for Mali, which he has led since June 2001. In 2002, he ran for president, but was in third place in the first round of voting, behind Soumaïla Cissé and Amadou Toumani Touré. He contested the validity of this result. Following legislative elections, he was elected president of the Mali National Assembly.

Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta is also President of the Executive Committee of the African Parliamentary Union.