Born in [[Kayes Region, Sébétou,village]], Traoré studied in Kati at Troop Children’s School.

He became president of the Comité militaire de libération nationale, which made him effective Head of state of Mali.

The new constitution was purported to move Mali toward civilian rule, the military junta stayed in power.

As general secretary of the UPDM, Traoré was automatically elected to a six-year term as president, and he was confirmed in office with 99 percent of the vote.

On 28 February 1978, Moussa Traoré had arrested both Tiécoro Bagayoko and Kissima Doukara, defense and security minister, on accusations of plotting a coup.

The UDPM began attracting additional members as it demonstrated that it could counter an effective voice against the excesses of local administrative authorities.

When officials in Burkina Faso conducted a census in disputed border communities, Malian forces launched an offensive on Christmas Day.

Since Mali had more power than Burkina Faso they used guerrilla warfare as the war continued raids were conducted in both countries.

[6][7] In 1990, the National Congress for Democratic Initiative (Congrès National d’Initiative démocratique, CNID) was set up by the lawyer Mountaga Tall, and the Alliance for Democracy in Mali (Alliance pour la démocratie au Mali, ADEMA) by Abdramane Baba and historian Alpha Oumar Konaré.

[10] Imprisoned in Markala local Prison, in February 1993, Traoré was condemned to death for "political crimes", largely focused on the killing of around 300 pro-democracy demonstrators in Bamako,[11] but his sentence was later commuted.

Shortly before leaving office, on 29 May 2002, he further pardoned the couple, for the sake of national reconciliation, a stance which incoming president Amadou Toumani Touré championed.

[12][13] Traoré's once reviled legacy somewhat softened under Touré, with the former dictator recognised at least informally as a former head of state and many former supporters now rallying around Chogel Maiga's Patriotic Movement for Renewal party (Mouvement Patriotique pour le Renouveau, MPR).