Tiébilé Dramé
Tiébilé Dramé | |
|---|---|
| Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation | |
| In office July 1985 – 13 April 1989 | |
| President | Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta |
| Prime Minister | Boubou Cissé |
| Preceded by | Kamissa Camara |
| Succeeded by | Zeïni Moulaye |
| Member of the National Assembly | |
| In office July 1997 – 2002 | |
| Constituency | Nioro du Sahel |
| Minister of Arid and Semi-Arid Zones | |
| In office 25 July 1996 – 1997 | |
| President | Alpha Oumar Konaré |
| Prime Minister | Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs and Malians Abroad | |
| In office 27 December 1991 – 1992 | |
| President | Amadou Toumani Touré |
| Prime Minister | Soumana Sacko |
| Preceded by | Souleymane Sidibé |
| Succeeded by | Mohamed Aloussine Touré |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 June 1955 |
| Died | 12 August 2025 (aged 70) Paris, France |
| Resting place | Faladié Cemetery, Bamako |
| Party | National Congress for Democratic Initiative (until 1995) Party for National Rebirth (after 1995) |
| Spouse | Kadiatou Konaré |
| Children | 12 |
| Education | École Normale Supérieure de Bamako Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University |
Tiébilé Dramé (9 June 1955 – 12 August 2025) was a Malian politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1991 to 1992 and again from 2019 until the 2020 Malian coup d'état. Born in Nioro du Sahel, he became a student activist in Bamako against the regime of dictator Moussa Traoré and was elected secretary general of the National Union of Students and Pupils of Mali in 1978. He was arrested and imprisoned several times between 1977 and 1980, and went into exile in Europe in 1981. He earned a degree in African history at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University and worked for Amnesty International in London as a researcher investigating human rights abuses in West Africa.
After Traoré's overthrow in the 1991 Malian coup d'état, Dramé returned from exile and served as Mali's foreign minister from 1991 to 1992 in the transitional government of President Amadou Toumani Touré. In 1992, he founded Le Républicain, a leading independent daily newspaper. In 1995, he founded the Party for National Rebirth, which he would lead until his death. Between 1996 and 1997, he served as Minister of Arid and Semi-Arid Zones, and in 1997 was elected to the National Assembly for his home constituency of Nioro du Sahel. He ran unsuccessfully in the 2002 and 2007 presidential elections.
In the 1990s and 2000s, Dramé led diplomatic and human rights missions to Haiti, Burundi, Madagascar on behalf of the United Nations. Following the 2012 Tuareg rebellion, Dramé was appointed to lead negotiations between the Malian government and separatist rebels in the north, resulting in a ceasefire that enabled the 2013 Malian presidential election to proceed. In 2019, following a political agreement between the Malian government and opposition groups, Dramé was named foreign minister in Prime Minister Boubou Cissé's cabinet under President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta. He served until Keïta's overthrow in the August 2020 coup d'état. Dramé was a leading advocate for democracy and human rights in Mali, and was known for his attentiveness to the issues of Mali's underdeveloped and restive north.