Cissé Mariam Kaïdama Sidibé

Cissé Mariam Kaïdama Sidibé (4 January 1948 – 6 November 2021) was a Malian politician and the Prime Minister of Mali at the time of the 2012 Malian coup d'état. She was the first female prime minister in the country's history. She was announced to the position by decree on 3 April 2011, replacing Modibo Sidibé. She held the position for slightly less than a year under the presidency of Amadou Toumani Touré before she was removed from office in the 22 March 2012 coup.

Early career Mariam Kaïdama Sidibé was born in Timbuktu, Mali on 4 January 1948. Her family name is Sidibé but she later took her husband's family name Cissé as well. She was the first female prime minister of Mali, and the second Prime Minister of President Amadou Toumani Touré's second and final term.

Sidibé Cissé and the current president were said by his press office to be "old friends", though her direct involvement in politics over the last decade has been minimal. One paper described her as "unknown to most of the public". Others pointed to the promise made that the government would not contain any leaders wishing to run in the 2012 Presidential or legislative elections. President Amadou Toumani Touré, who is not a member of any political party, has ruled over a multiparty coalition of ADEMA-PASJ, which had recently come under internal stress due to rumors that the former PM was preparing for a 2012 Presidential bid.

The editor of the powerful Bamako daily, Le Républicain, speculated that Amadou Toumani Touré's choice of woman Prime Minister was in part a symbol, reaching out to female voters in the year leading to the June 2012 Malian elections, and allowing the previous PM opportunity to run for the Presidency. He praised the president for his appointment in a "still very conservative country remains divided on the issue of gender and the vicissitudes of the family code", a reference to the Family Law bill proposed in 2009, that would have promoted women's rights, and was withdrawn after large conservative protests.

Removal from office On 22 March 2012, mutinying soldiers unhappy with Touré's management of the 2012 Tuareg rebellion seized power in a coup d'état. Amnesty International reported that Sidibé Cissé and other ministers had been detained by junta forces and were being held at a military camp in Kati.

International and diplomatic roles On 26 May 2011, Cissé Mariam Kaïdama Sidibé was one of the keynote speakers at the launch of UNESCO's Global Partnership for Girls' and Women's Education. As prime minister, she received state visits, including the visit from HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco in February 2012. On 5 November 2015 she was named ambassador of the Niger Basin Authority (NBA) to the COP21 held in Paris.

Personal life Sidibé Cissé was married and the mother of four children.