President Modibo Keita of Mali is deposed by the army

President Modibo Keita of Mali is deposed by the army in a bloodless coup. Modibo was the first president of the Republic of Mali after it gained independence from France in 1960. Five years earlier, Modibo was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize for his attempts to rebuild his country’s economy on socialist principles. However, Mali was overwhelmed by growing financial and economic problems, made worse by an especially poor harvest in 1968. In March 2012, Mali experienced another coup when a group of mutinous soldiers attacked and overthrew the ruling President of Mali, President Amadou Toumani Touré.