| Karim Dembélé | |
| Office: | Chief of Staff of the CMNL |
| Term Start: | 1969 |
| Term End: | 1978 |
| Death Date: | September 15, 2010 |
| Rank: | Lieutenant-colonel |
| Birth Date: | 1939 |
| Birth Place: | Koutiala, French Sudan |
| Battles: | 1968 Malian coup d'état |
| Office1: | Minister of Transport |
| Termstart1: | Unknown |
| Termend1: | 1978 |
Karim Dembélé was a Malian soldier and politician who participated in the 1968 Malian coup d'état.
Dembélé was born in Koutiala, French Sudan in 1939.[1] He studied in military school in Kati between 1962 and 1964, where he became a parachute officer. Dembele was only appointed a member of the Malian junta, CMNL, after the 1968 Malian coup d'état.[2] Dembele served as chief of staff in the government of Yoro Diakité from 1969 until his arrest. Dembele was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1976.
In February 1978, Dembele was imprisoned alongside Tiécoro Bagayoko and Kissima Doukara, the three of them accused of plotting a coup against Moussa Traoré. He was sentenced in October 1978 to twenty years of forced labor in Taoudenni, shortened to ten years in 1979.[3] At the time of his arrest, Dembele was the minister of transport.[4] He spent the full ten years imprisoned, being released in 1988 and regaining his rights after the fall of the Traore regime. After his release, he wrote a memoir called Transferts Defenitifs.[5]
Dembele died in the United States on September 15, 2010.