PRESS RELEASE r rof. E.V.O. Dankwa of Ghana, who is the Special Rapporteur on Prisons and Conditions of Detention in Africa, arrived in Mali on 7 November 1998 to follow up to a visit he paid to prisons and detention centres in Mali from 20 - 30 August 1997. Since his arrival, he has visited Prisons, Police and Gendarmerie cells in Bamako, Mopti, Kati, Bole, Koulikoro and Kayes, as well as the Prison Farm at Baquineda. Discussions at a meeting in Bamako with non-governmental organisations, notably the Malian Association of Human Rights, from all over the country including former convicts, provided a basis for hope that the dialogue with government over prison reforms will be sustained at the national level. As was done on the first visit, a detailed report of the mission will be presented to the Commission and the government of Mali and after the latter has commented on it, the report will be published and widely distributed. 7 December 1998 The Special Rapporteur was granted audience by the Minister of the Armed Forces who has responsibility for the gendarmerie and the Minister of Justice, Maitre Amidou Diabate. Prof. Dankwa had fruitful discussions with both Ministers. Mr. Bourama Sidibe, Directeur National, Direction Nationale de l'Administration Penitentiaire et de l'Education Surveillee, his deputy Mr. Sanidie Toure, the Registrars of the Prisons and Officers in charge of all the Police and Gendarmerie cells which the Special Rapporteur visited gave him their fullest co-operation and he is grateful to all of them. Unimpeded access was granted to all detainees and prisoners the Special Rapporteur wanted to see. He was able to interview and have discussions with these inmates in the absence of any official. Within a very short time of the Special Rapporteur's request to see exPresident Moussa Traore and Madame Traore and to observe their conditions of detention, his request was granted. The couple exercised their undoubted right positively: they agreed to see him, and he did hear from both of them. In throwing its prisons and detention centres open to the Special Rapporteur twice in barely a year, and in accepting and implementing recommendations he had made on the first visit, the government of Mali has demonstrated that human rights can work in Africa. Its willingness to continue a dialogue with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (the Commission) on improvement of conditions in prisons and detention centres in Mali is a further measure of the assertion just made. Admittedly, there are areas yet to be addressed, but in the spirit of willingness to confront the problems of imprisonment and detention Mali faces which has been demonstrated by the government of Mali, the Special Rapporteur will urge government to continue on the path of reform. 50 51