{"id":5791,"date":"2020-12-25T17:23:36","date_gmt":"2020-12-25T17:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/?p=5791"},"modified":"2025-11-22T12:14:50","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T12:14:50","slug":"malian-opposition-politician-soumaila-cisse-dies-from-covid-19-at-70","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/malian-opposition-politician-soumaila-cisse-dies-from-covid-19-at-70\/","title":{"rendered":"Malian opposition politician Souma\u00efla Ciss\u00e9 dies from Covid-19 at 70"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By M. A. Diallo<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Souma\u00efla Ciss\u00e9, President of the Union for Republic and Democracy (URD) political party died from complications of Covid-19 on Friday, December 25, 2020 in Paris, France, sparking an outpouring of grief and mourning across Mali. Ciss\u00e9 was the main political opponent of the deposed regime of Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta, Mr. Ciss\u00e9 had made few public appearances since his release from terrorist groups who had held him hostage for six months on October 5, 2020.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The bad news came shortly before 10 a.m. Souma\u00efla Ciss\u00e9 died on Christmas Day in Paris, France. His biological and political family confirmed that he was ill with Covid-19. Aged 70, the native of Niafunk\u00e9, Timbuktu region, marked the political history of democratic Mali with standout performances in three presidential elections.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2002, Ciss\u00e9 surprised everyone with his score in the first round of the presidential election and faced General Amadou Toumani Tour\u00e9 (ATT) in the second round. He lost the election. During ATT\u2019s ten year tenure, Ciss\u00e9 faded from the domestic political scene, opting for prominent international posts, including the presidency of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2013, he faced Ibrahim Boubacar K\u00e9ita in the second round of the presidential election. The latter, supported by religious leaders, won the election with 77% of the vote. Souma\u00efla Ciss\u00e9 acknowledged his defeat and joined the opposition. He ran for the legislative elections of November 2013 and was elected in the first round in his hometown, Niafunk\u00e9. Together with other political parties and civil society organizations, he provided ample opposition to Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta throughout his first five-year term. In 2017, Souma\u00efla Ciss\u00e9 and his allies opposed the constitutional revision and won the cancellation of the referendum after several weeks of protests.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The following year, he ran for president again. He forced incumbent President Ke\u00efta to go to the second round, the first in Mali since the advent of democracy. He lost again, according to the results proclaimed by the Constitutional Court. Unlike in 2013, Souma\u00efla Ciss\u00e9 did not admit defeat, but his rejection of the result did not spark violence.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ciss\u00e9\u2019s loss in 2017 put him back in the opposition camp, but his renewed hostility with IBK was ended abruptly on March 25, 2020, when armed terrorists took Ciss\u00e9 Ciss\u00e9 hostage in the middle of his legislative election campaign in Niafunk\u00e9. By the time Ciss\u00e9 was released on October 5, Ibrahim Boubacar K\u00e9ita had already been overthrown by a military coup d&#8217;\u00e9tat on August 18.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Souma\u00efla Ciss\u00e9\u2019s death has disturbed the political scene, and Mali as a whole.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After a political career that marked the history of democratic Mali, Souma\u00efla Ciss\u00e9\u2019s death has disturbed the political scene and Mali as a whole.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5792,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,16,62],"tags":[85,30,87],"class_list":["post-5791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mali","category-politique","category-security","tag-covid-19","tag-mali","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5791"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6632,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5791\/revisions\/6632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}