The Sudanese Republic officials resisted this dissolution, cut off diplomatic relations with Senegal, and defiantly changed the name of their country to Mali.

[4] The RDA held a congress on 15 November 1958 to discuss the recent election results and the division became clear with Modibo Keïta from French Sudan and Doudou Gueye from Senegal arguing for primary federation, which would include France and the colonies in a unified system, and Félix Houphouët-Boigny of the Ivory Coast dismissing that idea.

[7] French Sudan called for representatives of each of the four countries (and Mauritania as an observer) to Bamako on 28 to 30 December to discuss the formation of the federation.

[3][10] The result is that only the colonies of French Sudan (now called the Sudanese Republic) and Senegal were engaged in the discussions of the formation of the federation by 1959.

[6] Elections in March 1959 in both French Sudan and Senegal cemented the power of the major parties pushing for the formation of a federation.

Keïta's Union Soudanaise-Rassemblement Démocratique Africain (US-RDA) won 76% of the votes in French Sudan and all of the seats in the territorial assembly.

[11] Although Senghor won the elections by a large margin, some conservative Islamist marabouts supported the candidacy of Cheikh Tidjane Sy.

[11] After the elections, the assemblies of Senegal and French Sudan approved the federation and began the process of constructing a political system to unite the two colonies.

Until a president was elected, the premier of the Mali Federation was to be Keïta and the vice-premier (and the person in charge of the armed forces) was to be Mamadou Dia from Senegal.

[15] As articulated at the first PFA congress in July 1959 by Senghor, it would be the single political party in the country and aim to unite across the different ethnic groups in the territory.

The negotiations were formally started when French President Charles de Gaulle visited Bamako on 13 December 1959, and lasted until March 1960.

[20] In addition, some of the aspects left vague in the first discussions became key issues of debate between the political leaders of Senegal and French Sudan as their articulation became more important, including armed forces, development of an indigenous bureaucracy, the strength of the federal government and the precise relationship with France.

[26] About the same time, Keïta, as Premier of the Mali Federation, began meeting formally with many of the Muslim political leaders of Senegal although there is no evidence of any discussion of undermining Senghor's leadership.

[26] Mamadou Dia, as the vice-premier and person in charge of national defense, began surveying the readiness of various military units in case the political situation were to become hostile.

[29] Although the Mali Federation existed in name only in Bamako for another month, France and most other nations recognized the two colonies as separate independent countries on 12 September 1960.

[31] Nonetheless, Mali under Keïta still pursued the goal of West African unity but did so in a variety of different international connections.