Oumou Sall Seck

Oumou Sall Seck (born 19 August 1968) is a Malian politician and ambassador.

Early life, education, and career Oumou was born on 19 August 1968 to a Songhai father and a Tuareg mother. Before she became mayor, she worked as a businesswoman selling cosmetic products. She studied Cooperation and Development in Mandé Bukari University and graduated in 2013 and earned a certificate in International Law and Comparative Human Rights Law from International Institute of Human Rights in 2017. In 2002, Oumou supported Amadou Toumani Touré's candidacy during the 2002 Malian presidential election. Shortly before the 2016 mayoral election, Oumou left the URD party for disagreements on several issues, causing the URD to ally with RPM and APR to defeat her. Nevertheless, she won again the Goundam mayoral election as an independent candidate in November 2016 for the third term.

During his tenure as Mayor of Goundam from 2004 to 2018, she built a women's community service, health center, water supply, basketball court, local product transformation, schools, kindergarten, independence square, public lighting, and a bridge. She also constructed the town municipal building that replaced the poor-condition town hall, which was completed in 2017. Alongside this infrastructure improvement work, she also campaigned against female genital mutilation in Goundam. Due to her work, Goundam became the example for other municipalities in the Tombouctou Region in terms of education, health, economic development, public lighting, women's rights, training, and retraining of FGM victims. She was named the most popular Malian female politician in 2013. In 2012, she founded the Movement “Trait-d'Union” in response to the 2012 conflict. During her exile, she wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times demanding the US and France intervention to assist Mali in capturing the jihadist-controlled territories in northern Mali. She only returned to Goundam in May 2013 after the gendarmes and Burkinabe contingent of AFISMA arrived and stationed at the town. At the same year, she also became the mediator in Ber for the release of ten hostages.

Diplomatic career On 26 December 2017, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta announced that Oumou would be the Ambassador of Mali to Germany, replacing Toumani Djime Djallo. She was officially became the Ambassador of Mali to Germany on 31 May 2018, thus ending her mayoral career. On 19 July 2018, she presented her credentials as an ambassador to Frank-Walter Steinmeier at Bellevue Palace. Other than Germany, she is also accredited to Austria, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Czech Republic, Sweden, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia.

She stepped down from her position as an ambassador of Mali to Germany in 2023 and Cheick Mahamadou Chérif Keïta replaced her.

Post-diplomatic career Assimi Goïta appointed Oumou as the member of the steering committee for Inter-Malian dialogue on 31 January 2024.

Personal life Oumou speaks English and French.

Awards Oumou received the Peace Prize of the Paul Litzer Foundation for fighting against female circumcisions and Initiative Trophy from Airness Group in 2008. The Embassy of the United States of America in Mali awarded Oumou "Women In Excellence" in 2010. In 2016, Oumou received Mano Dayak Foundation Prize for her commitment to peace in West Africa, especially in Mali. On 27 October 2017, the Tumast Cultural Center awarded Oumou the Peace Prize. Oumou was honoured as a knight of the National Order of Mali in late 2018. On 20 November 2018, the Government of Navarre awarded her the XVI International Solidarity Prize.