UN General Assembly
1992

culmination of long years of struggle and sacrifice of an entire people. A new Coalition Government is in place and a National Assembly made up of 11 political parties is working to strengthen the administration, the rule of law and respect for human rights in the Republic of Mali. To conclude this chapter, I should like to express the profound gratitude of the people and the Government of Mali to friendly countries and to international organizations and agencies, in particular the United Nations system, for their valuable advice and their excellent contributions to the various electoral consultations which led to the establishment of a pluralist democracy. The young Malian democracy was nevertheless born with a serious handicap, that of the burdensome heritage of a past of several decades of dictatorship, bad management, a single-party system and quasi-indifference to the suffering of the population. This intolerable political situation, aggravated by the impact of the drought and by continuing deterioration of living conditions in arid zones, finally led to a rebellion among the nomadic population in the