Background
He was born on October 17, 1932. at Bangassi-Arbala, Mali.
He was born on October 17, 1932. at Bangassi-Arbala, Mali.
He was educated at the Kati Cadets School. In 1951 he joined the French army, became an NCO in 1958, promoted to second lieutenant in that same year, and then went to the Frejus Military School in France and later to the Infantry Training School at Saint Maixent.
In 1960 he was promoted to lieutenant of the Malian army, saw active service in the Congo with the UN forces, and was promoted to captain three years later.
When a group of young army officers took over the government at dawn on November 19, 1968, Captain Diakite, who was then Director of the Kati Military School, quickly asserted himself as one of the leaders. Among the other leaders of the conspiracy was also Lieutenant Moussa Traore, who was at the time Captain Diakite’s second-incommand at Kati. When the military junta decided to create two executive bodies to replace the former National Committee for the Defence of the Republic (CNDR) and the deposed government, Traore overcame his inferior rank and became the first president of the CMLN, the military committee which ruled the country, with Diakite as first vice-president. Captain Diakite also took over as President of the provisional government.
On September 19, 1969, Diakite was replaced as head of government by Traore, though he still remained Minister of Transport, Telecommunications and Tourism for another year. From September 1970 until April 1971, Diakite was Minister of Interior, Security and Defence. Accused then by Lieutenant Traore of plotting against the security of the state, together with Captain Malick Diallo, a former colleague of Lieutenant Traore’s at Frejus, Captain Diakite was immediately and “definitely” expelled from the CMLN and the army and sentenced to forced labour for life on July 31, 1972.
He helped to create the political framework in which the newly created bodies were supposed to operate. In March 1969, Diakite went to Paris, where he was the first Malian head of government to be received at the Elysee Palace since 1960. According to him, his government’s main concern was “to put the professional politicians aside, normalise trade, and draft a development plan. When the plan is ready, we will, of course, submit it to France."
He is a cinema enthusiast, a keen stamp-collector and a member of the Mali authors’ literary association of Bamako.