Touré, Amadou Toumani

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Amadou Toumani Touré, 1948–, Malian political leader, president of Mali (2002–2012), b. Mopti. He graduated from military school in 1972 and received further military training in the Soviet Union and France. Promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1988, he led a 1991 army coup, ousting President Moussa Traoré. Touré served as interim head of state until 1992, when Alpha Oumar Konaré was elected president. Touré retired from the army in 2001 and, running as an independent, won the presidency in 2002. He was reelected in 2007 as the candidate of the Alliance for Democracy and Progress (ADP) coalition. He was ousted by a coup in 2012 after Tuareg and Islamist rebels made significant advances in N Mali, and formally resigned (Apr., 2012) as part of an agreement to establish an interim government.