Former Dictator Swaps Prison for Swanky Villa
Tue Jul 16, 9:39 AM ET
By Tiemoko Diallo
BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's former dictator Moussa Traore has finally agreed to leave prison, weeks
after he was pardoned for murder, because the government has found a suitably dignified residence
for him, an aide said Monday. Traore, who ruled the impoverished West African country for 23 years
before being ousted in 1991, was given a presidential pardon in May for humanitarian reasons,
ending life sentences for murder and corruption alongside his wife Mariam.
But Traore rejected the pardon given by outgoing President Alpha Konare, saying he would not leave
the facility where he was heavily guarded some 250 km (160 miles) from the capital Bamako unless
he got the privileges of a former president.
As an ex-president, Traore would be entitled to an official residence, full-time security and a
monthly allowance.
A senior official at the Patriotic Movement for Renewal party which supports Traore said Monday
the former dictator moved last Thursday into a luxurious house in Bamako which had initially been
earmarked for Konare. The state bought the villa from a former banker and then refurbished it so
Konare could move in after he stepped down as president in May. However the former president
preferred a small, made-to-measure palace on the outskirts of Bamako.
Traore took power in a 1968 and ruled the landlocked former French colony until he was booted out
by paratroop colonel Amadou Toumani Toure -- who gave up power after 1992 elections but won a
presidential election landslide in May. Traore, 65, was condemned to death in 1993 on charges of
murder related to the killing of more than 150 pro-democracy protesters in the days before his
fall. Both he and his wife were sentenced to death for economic crimes in 1999. The sentences were
later commuted to life imprisonment.
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