Diabaly

Diabaly
Commune and town
Diabaly is located in Mali
Diabaly
Diabaly
Location in Mali
Coordinates: 14°41′N 6°1′W / 14.683°N 6.017°W / 14.683; -6.017
Country Mali
RegionSégou Region
CercleNiono Cercle
Area
[1]
 • Total
1,538 km2 (594 sq mi)
Elevation
273 m (896 ft)
Population
 (2009 census)[2]
 • Total
35,266
 • Density23/km2 (59/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+0 (GMT)

Diabaly is a small town and rural commune in the Cercle of Niono in the Ségou Region of Mali. The commune has an area of approximately 1,538 square kilometres (594 sq mi) and includes 28 villages as well as the town.[3] In the 2009 census the commune had a population of 35,266.[2] The town lies 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Niono on the west side of the Fala de Molodo channel that forms part of the Office du Niger irrigation scheme. The fields around the town are irrigated but much of the commune lies to the east of the Fala de Molodo in an area that lacks irrigation.

On 8 September 2012, during the Northern Mali conflict, a group of Malian army soldiers arrested 17 Islamic preachers coming from Mauritania at a checkpoint near the village. The 17 men were suspected to be Islamist militants and 16 of them were executed.[4] Opposition military forces occupied Diabaly for a week starting from 14 January 2013.[5][6]

  1. ^ Common and Fundamental Operational Datasets Registry: Mali, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. commune_mali.zip (Originally from the Direction Nationale des Collectivités Territoriales, République du Mali)
  2. ^ a b Resultats Provisoires RGPH 2009 (Région de Ségou) (PDF) (in French), République de Mali: Institut National de la Statistique, archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-22.
  3. ^ Communes de la Région de Ségou (PDF) (in French), Ministère de l’administration territoriale et des collectivités locales, République du Mali, archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2012.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference AP_8Sep2012_massacre was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBC_14jan2013_occupied was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference AJE_Diabaly_retakenMlFr was invoked but never defined (see the help page).