August · This Day in Africa
August 20
1960 — The Mali Federation Breaks Apart
On August 20, 1960 — two months after gaining independence from France as the Mali Federation — Senegal walked out, and the union collapsed. What was meant to be a grand West African federation of Senegal and French Sudan split after a bitter standoff between Léopold Senghor and Modibo Keïta, its two leading figures.
French Sudan kept the name Mali; Senegal went its own way. The breakup killed the dream of a united francophone West Africa and set the pattern for the region's failed federations. Two months of union had promised a larger future; its ending left two smaller states to build alone.
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