The lion dances
The goal is here
I am from Africa,
I am from Mali.
Many great African men have disappeared.
This world is not war, our eternal home too.
Is it preferable to join the other world?
Without dying to avoid that,
they have disappeared.
Disappeared forever.
By their sacrifice,
they have immortalized themselves.
They must remain for us examples that we must equal at all costs,
if not surpass,
if only we want to keep in our country
the prestige of the past and ensure a better future.
In 1880,
the French troops of colonial conquest were already struggling
against the fierce resistance of the Samoan Al-Mamih.
Unfortunately,
at this time of endless fratricidal war,
the determination of Africans to repulse
foreign invaders was dangerously compromised.
It is in the
face of this cruel reality that Amadou
Sekou of Ségou addressed me vainly,
a message to Samori and Chiba to invite them
to put an end to the war that opposed them
and for K-3 to form a single front
of combat against French penetration.
Unfortunately, Chiba died in 1893.
It was thus that during their massacre expedition,
the French troops besieged the capital of Kennedukou on May 1,
1898,
having then at its head the great patriot and resistant Bab Mbaki,
until his last breath he preferred death to shame.
At the ultimatum of the white chief, he replied,
I do not want to taste the honey of your words.
I am not afraid of anyone because a man does not die twice.
And so I am certain that as long as there is a living man in Sykasso,
the French will not set foot there.
At the last hour of the day,
without hearing the last hours of the morning,
the political
will that this great African patriot left to posterity,
these are the words he addressed
to his sons, Kho and Madu.
Prince, my children,
if I have chosen to stay here,
it is not only for the greatness and honor of Kennedougou,
but also for the prestige of our family.
And if I ask you to leave,
it is so that tomorrow Kennedougou can find in you a greatness
that no power has ever equaled.
Yes, Prince,
everyone knows that during the five years of my reign,
I have constantly played the card of dignity,
sovereignty and real independence of Kennedougou.
And
it is because I led such a policy that
Sykasso is now besieged by the French.
Prince, my children,
you now have proof that the path of duty
and that of advantages is only exceptional.
And I am certain that you will not be able to find other lines
of conduct and that tomorrow you will succeed where I failed.
Go,
go, my children.
If the French troops are launching into your pursuit,
do not hesitate to join Samouri who remains against all odds.
Go,
my children.
My blessings are with you.
May Allah protect you.
Kennedougou, J'eba,
Babem, Babemi
Kennedougou,
Musa,
J'eba, Rintarida
Kennedougou, J'eba,
Babem, Babemi
As
he had planned,
he was a victim,
an honorable and enviable victim of his tenacity.
The tragic end of the Traoré dynasty of Sykasso.
The tragic end of the existence of
the Senoufou kingdom of Kennedougou.
Prince Fouy and Madou,
who had taken refuge in a forest near Sykasso,
suddenly saw an eye on a corner.
Up there,
at the top of the mamelon that overshadowed Sykasso,
the French flag was majestic.
Shaken by an indescribable emotion and
totally devoured by an impotent rage,
the princes understood then the whole
meaning of what had just happened.
On the remains of the great and resistant patriot Babemba,
the French flag was now floating.
eren
After having sworn to avenge the memory
of the one who had just disappeared,
I swear
them till death.
Marcher des jours,
marcher des nuits,
ayant sans cesse en vue l'ombre du grand disparu.
Mutin ab-Shamren ayin laa Ahaan zeh,
laa
By
fulfilling the last will of their father,
they met one day in Bolibana.
Bolibana, the race is over,
is the name Samory had given to his bivouac.
A sentry led them to the sovereign.
Samory the woman,
Samory the
sovereign of the Soyuz,
Samory the woman,
Samory the
sovereign of the Soyuz,
sovereign
of the Soyuz,
sovereign
of the Soyuz,
sovereign
of the Soyuz.
They found many resistance fighters who came to
ally with the Almami to fight foreign invaders.
In order to avenge their brothers who
disappeared and to save their country.
Unity was born.
What unity?
It is the great and immortal figure
of African patriots that Samory did,
who in reply to his son and lieutenant Sarankini Mori,
told us.
Calm down, Sarankini Mori, my son.
The old man said only the cruel truth.
Whether we are a hundred,
two hundred,
three hundred or even a thousand generous princes
of the most valiant dynasties,
it does not prevent us from being all driven out of our
kingdoms and empires.
Our
union is in fact only the union of despair and powerlessness.
Do we have only twenty thousand fighters?
No.
And yet,
eight years ago, in the cruel memory,
if Cheba and I had listened to Amadou Sekou of Segou,
we could have set up a solid army of at least three hundred thousand
men who would have annihilated the troops of the foreign invaders.
But each of us was holding his throne and not a single one of us
intended to accept the slightest sacrifice to lose a part of his
sovereignty for the benefit of a more viable and more powerful ensemble.
But
the thirst for domination and expansion never sated the kings,
emperors and emperors
that we were and that we are.
It made us sign with the foreign invaders one after the other,
and one against the other,
to be friends or protectors.
In doing so,
each of us relied on foreign aid to fight
his brothers and to extend his empire.
The new conquerors took advantage of it to strike their
cannons on whoever they wanted and whenever they wanted.
Yes,
it is our fault if the French,
English and Belgian flags float on Dakar,
Cancun, Sokoto,
San Ancoro,
Segou, Sikaso, etc.
However,
if tomorrow
this great and fatal mistake of our life could serve
as a lesson to all the fighters of the African cause,
and more particularly to all those like us who will
be charged with the fate of their fellow citizens,
then only we will be able to sleep
in peace at the bottom of our graves,
because our example will not have been in vain.
But all this is but a sad memory.
The hour is grave and we must fight.
Thus,
it is by calling upon the song of Tonga
that the last resistance groups in Bolibana
will make their departure for the final battle.
The Samoan Al-Mami wanted to try to break through
the French lines to find himself in Kenedougou.
The presence of Prince Fou and Madu would have
allowed him to mobilize the Seno-Fo people.
Unfortunately,
a French column managed to slip between
the men of Kounanikeleba and Morifinian
and thus managed to reach the bivouac of the Samoan Al-Mami.
Thus was the 1898 September 29 when he rested
and without being able to defend himself,
this
great African patriot who had in his active 18
years of unwavering struggle against foreign
occupation.
THE ATTACK OF KENEDOUKU
IN KENEDOUKU
Deported to Gabon in the company of his son Sarangke Nyi Mori,
he was to die on June 2,
1900 at the age of 65.
Prince Fou and Madu were led in the opposite direction by Datombok.
When they returned to Sikasso in 1900,
they were notified by the colonial administration that they
could no longer claim to the meager power of the Kampong chiefs.
Here are young Africans,
young Mali,
in what condition are the last
representatives of this beautiful race of men,
in the palm trees of which the most beautiful pages
of the determination of the African to remain African,
Young Africans,
young Mali,
A few years later,
in the place of this multitude of African kingdoms and empires,
the colonizers set up the Western African Federations,
of Equatorial Africa,
Nigeria,
Congo, etc.
As you know, in the 1960s,
the liberation movements brought Africa
back to the life of national sovereignty,
in the form of a multitude of micronations from
the fragmentation of these great federations.
Thus,
young comrades,
it is with these micronations of 2 or 3 million,
and sometimes even 400,000
souls,
that Africa claims to be established and imposed,
at a time when the European nations
of 40 to 60 million
feel helpless to support the international competition,
accept all
sacrifices for this country.
Does Balkanized Africa not go ahead of our Bolivar?
We must believe it.
Yes, we must believe it.
And yet,
the recent African peoples feel an imperial need for this country.
Unfortunately, in 1970 as in 1880,
African states rely more on this policy of the hand
stretched abroad to build themselves,
than on their own forces that reside in African unity.
Young Africans,
young Mali,
it is not enough for you to take over all the great schools
of the universe,
it is not enough for you to take off
all the university titles in view.
It is up to you to build Africa on the healthy
and tangible foundations of African unity.
The organization of African unity and regional
groups are certainly approaches to African
unity,
but very shy approaches that you must overcome.
Young Africans,
young Mali,
if the division of Africa yesterday against the
colonial conquest troops was a tragedy for Babemba,
Amadou Sekou,
Samouri,
the Balkanization of free Africa today is likely to be
a comedy in which African peoples will make the brakes.
That is why it is up to you,
young Malians,
who are the very quintessence of the Malian nation,
to ensure that tomorrow,
when the time comes to say the truth in front of the ruthless
history court,
Mali can proudly present the solid stone
that it has brought to the construction
of a free,
united and prosperous Africa.
Thank you very much.