The Gyil's design is similar to the Balaba or Balafon used by the Mande-speaking Bambara, Dyula and Sosso peoples further west in southern Mali and western Burkina Faso, a region that shares many musical traditions with those of northern Côte d ' Ivoire and Ghana.

The country is shaped like a square and borders the Gulf of Guinea on the north Atlantic Ocean to the south ( 515 km of coastline ) and five other African nations on the other three sides, with a total of 3, 110 km of borders: Liberia to the southwest ( 716 km ), Guinea to the northwest ( 610 km ), Mali to the north-northwest ( 532 km ), Burkina Faso to the north-northeast, and Ghana to the east ( 668 km ).

* Mali ( by ECOWAS ) total embargo in order to force Juntas to give power back and re-install National constitution.

The first edition of GANEFO was held in Jakarta, Indonesia on November 10 – 22, 1963 for 13 days where in total about 2, 700 athletes participated from 51 nations in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America such as Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burma, Cambodia, Chile, Ceylon, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, DPR Korea, Dominican Republic, Finland, France, East Germany, Guinea, Hungary, Indonesia, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Laos, Lebanon, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, China PR, the Philippines, Poland, Mali, Rumania, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Somalia, Thailand, Tunisia, Soviet Union, North Vietnam, the United Arab Republic ( currently Egypt and Syria ), Uruguay, Yugoslavia, etc.

The total population of the Mali Iđoš municipality is 13, 494.

Burkina Faso 16. 6 %, Ghana 15. 4 %, Netherlands 13 %, Benin 9. 6 %, Mali 7. 7 % ( 2003 )

* Stage 7: Mali Desert, Mali

Côte D ' Ivoire ( 60 ), DR Congo ( 2 ), Egypt ( 22 ), El Salvador ( 7 ), France ( 64 ), Grenada ( 3 ), Guinea ( 55 ), India ( 139 ), Italy ( 4 ), Jamaica ( 5 ), Jordan ( 312 ), Madagascar ( 2 ), Mali ( 55 ), Nepal ( 168 ), Niger ( 62 ), Nigeria ( 128 ), Pakistan ( 248 ), Philippines ( 18 ), Romania ( 23 ), Russian Federation ( 10 ), Rwanda ( 14 ), Senegal ( 131 ), Serbia ( 5 ), Spain ( 41 ), Sri Lanka ( 7 ), Togo ( 5 ), Turkey ( 46 ), United States ( 48 ), Uruguay ( 7 ), and Yemen ( 1 ).

Mali has only one railroad, including 729 kilometers in Mali, which runs from the port of Koulikoro via Bamako to the border with Senegal and continues on to Dakar.

Mali had a road network totaling about 18, 563 kilometers in 2000, including about 4, 450 kilometers of paved roads.

Mali has 1, 815 kilometers of inland waterways, principally the Niger River, some portions of which are navigable for medium and large shipping during the rainy season ( June / July – November / December ) in years of normal rainfall.

At about 1. 2 million square kilometers, Mali is comparable in size to South Africa and is almost twice the size of the US state of Texas.

The Niger ( with 1, 693 kilometers in Mali ) and Senegal are Mali ’ s two largest rivers.

Mali was estimated to have 1, 380 square kilometers of irrigated land in 1998.

The Đerdap gorge, which is some 100 kilometers long ( from Golubac to Tekija ), is actually a compound river valley made up of four gorges ( Gornja klisura, Gospođin vir, Veliki and Mali kazan and Sipska klisura ), separated from each other by ravines.

The dam irrigates an additional 78, 100 hectares ( 781 square kilometers ) of land in Senegal ( 54, 700 hectares ), Mauritania ( 20, 400 ha ) and Mali ( 3, 000 ha ), which actually exceeds expectations.

Sixty-five percent of Mali ’ s land area is desert or semi-desert.

According to estimates in 1998, only 3. 8 percent of Mali ’ s area can be classified as arable land, and less than 0. 1 percent was planted to permanent crops in that year.

So while the Mandinka people generally referred to their land and capital province as Manden, its semi-nomadic Fula subjects residing on the heartland's western ( Tekrur ), southern ( Fouta Djallon ) and eastern borders ( Macina ) popularized the name Mali for this kingdom and later empire of the Middle Ages.

For all his efforts, Mali experienced a cultural revival it had never witnessed before, and the whole land flourished as a center of all things valuable in learning and trade.

Agreements with Liberia in 1892 and with Britain in 1893 determined the eastern and western boundaries of the colony, but the northern boundary was not fixed until 1947 because of efforts by the French government to attach parts of Upper Volta ( present-day Burkina Faso ) and French Sudan ( present-day Mali ) to Côte d ' Ivoire for economic and administrative reasons.

Countries where ASL or a derivative of ASL is the national or a widespread language include Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana ( with BSL ), Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, the Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d ' Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Kenya ( minority use ), Liberia, Madagascar ( minority use ), Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Philippines ( L2 use ), Puerto Rico, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Trinidad and Tobago, Togo, and Zimbabwe ( with ZSL ).

* Westernmost point-the tripoint with Mali and Cote d ' Ivoire, Cascades Region

A territorial dispute with Mali was mediated by Ghana and Nigeria, which has led to lessening of tensions between the two nations.

Nineteen provinces of Burkina Faso are joined with contiguous areas of Mali and Niger under the Liptako-Gourma Authority, a regional economic organization.

* Northern-most point – the point at which the border with Mali enters the Bagoé river, Savanes Region, the Sahel.

The Trans – West African Coastal Highway provides a paved link to Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria, with paved highways to landlocked Mali and Burkina Faso feeding into the coastal highway.

Local terms for the procedure include tahara in Egypt ; tahur in Sudan ; and bolokoli in Mali, which Anika Rahman and Nahid Toubia write are words synonymous with purification.

Ever since Mansa Musa, king of the Mali Empire, made his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1325, with 500 slaves and 100 camels ( each carrying gold ) the region had become synonymous with such wealth.

Mali reached the peak of its power and extent in the 14th century, when Mansa Musa ( 1312 – 1337 ) made his famous hajj to Mecca with 500 slaves, each holding a bar of gold worth 500 mitqals.

During most of his journey in the Mali Empire, Ibn Battuta travelled with a retinue that included slaves, most of whom carried goods for trade but would also be traded as slaves.

French Sudan ( then known as the Sudanese Republic ) joined with Senegal in 1959, achieving independence in 1960 as the Mali Federation.

Following the withdrawal of Senegal from the federation in August 1960, the former Sudanese Republic became the Republic of Mali on 22 September 1960, with Modibo Keïta as president.

Ramtane Lamamra, the African Union's peace and security commissioner, said the African Union has discussed sending a military force to reunify Mali and that negotiations with terrorists had been ruled out but negotiations with other armed factions is still open.

Mali has one of the world's highest rates of infant mortality, with 106 deaths per 1, 000 live births.

Politics of Mali takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Mali is head of state with a Presidentially appointed Prime Minister as the head of government, and of a multi-party system.

The Economy of Mali is based to a large extent on agriculture, with an mostly rural population, many of whom are engaged in subsistence agriculture.

This is a chart of trend of gross domestic product of Mali at market prices estimated by the International Monetary Fund with figures in millions of CFA Francs.

The state operated radio, is ORTM ( office de Radiodiffusion au Television de Mali ), which operates 2 FM stations and 1 television station, with repeaters throughout the country.

* Mali Market Information Study FOOD SECURITY II COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT between U. S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT and MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: IN-COUNTRY TIME PERIOD: JULY 1987-DECEMBER 1994. statistical evidence is consistent with anecdotal reports from both farmers and traders that the SIM radio broadcasts have fundamentally changed bargaining relationships between traders and farmers, forcing traders to offer more competitive prices in isolated rural markets.

* West African Agricultural Market Observer / Observatoire du Marché Agricole ( RESIMAO ), a project of the West-African Market Information Network ( WAMIS-NET ), provides live market and commodity prices from fifty seven regional and local public agricultural markets across Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d ' Ivoire, Guinea, Niger, Mali, Senegal, Togo, and Nigeria.

* West African Agricultural Market Observer / Observatoire du Marché Agricole ( RESIMAO ), a project of the West-African Market Information Network ( WAMIS-NET ), provides live market and commodity prices from fifty seven regional and local public agricultural markets across Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d ' Ivoire, Guinea, Niger, Mali, Senegal, Togo, and Nigeria.

* West African Agricultural Market Observer / Observatoire du Marché Agricole ( RESIMAO ), a project of the West-African Market Information Network ( WAMIS-NET ), provides live market and commodity prices from fifty seven regional and local public agricultural markets across Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d ' Ivoire, Guinea, Niger, Mali, Senegal, Togo, and Nigeria.

In recent years, Mali has undertaken an ambitious decentralization program, which involves the capital district of Bamako, seven regions subdivided into 46 cercles, and 682 rural community districts ( communes ).

So while the lineage of the Keita dynasty may be dubious at best, oral chroniclers have preserved a list of each Keita ruler from Lawalo ( supposedly one of Bilal's seven sons who settled in Mali ) to Maghan Kon Fatta ( father of Sundiata Keita ).

About 1500 ethnic Dogon in seven villages in southern Mali speak a presumed language isolate called Bangime

Mali surged into a 3-0 lead in the first 55 minutes, with Tenema N ' Diaye registering a hat trick, but then fell apart, giving up three goals, including an own goal, in just seven minutes to end up with a 3-3 draw.

* B. Shankar Rao ( b. 1922 ), largely self taught, great friend and informal student of Late Mali, has enriched the field of Carnatic music for seven decades and continues to do so personally and through his students.