Babemba Traoré was a king of the Kénédougou Empire

Kénédougou Empire

The Kénédougou Kingdom, also referred to as the Kenedugu Kingdom, was a pre-colonial West African state established in the southern portion of present-day Mali.-Traoré Dynasty:...

. Following the 1893 death of his brother Tieba Traoré

Tieba Traoré

Tieba Traoré was a king of the Kénédougou Empire who reigned from 1876 until his death in 1893. Son of the previous king, Mansa Douala, Traoré moved the Empire's capital to Sikasso, building a palace on the city's Mamelon hill...

, Babemba assumed the Kénédougou throne. The capital, Sikasso

Sikasso

Sikasso is a city in the south of Mali and the capital of the Sikasso Region. With 130,700 residents, Sikasso recently passed Ségou to become Mali's second-largest city.-Geography:...

, was beset at this time by both the Dyula

Dyula

The Dyula are a Mande ethnic group inhabiting several West African countries, including the Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Guinea-Bissau....

 forces of Samory Touré

Samori

Samory Toure was the founder of the Wassoulou Empire, an Islamic state that resisted French rule in West Africa from 1882 until his capture in 1898.-Early life and career:...

 and by the rapidly advancing French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 colonial

Colonialism

Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...

 army. The neighboring Toucouleur Empire

Toucouleur Empire

The Toucouleur Empire was founded in the nineteenth century by El Hadj Umar Tall of the Toucouleur people, in part of present-day Mali....

's capital at Ségou

Ségou

Ségou is a city in south-central Mali, lying northeast of Bamako on the River Niger, in the region of Ségou. It was founded by the Bozo people, on a site about from the present town...

 had fallen to the French the previous year, leaving the French free to focus on subduing the Kénédougou.

In April 1898, the French began a major artillery barrage against Sikasso's walls; the city itself fell on May 1, 1898. Rather than surrender to the French, Babemba ordered his guards to kill him, an action still celebrated in Mali

Mali

Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...

 today. Samory Touré was captured in September of the same year, marking the effective end of West Africa

West Africa

West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...

n resistance to French rule.

The stadium of Sikasso

Sikasso

Sikasso is a city in the south of Mali and the capital of the Sikasso Region. With 130,700 residents, Sikasso recently passed Ségou to become Mali's second-largest city.-Geography:...

, Stade Babemba Traoré

Stade Babemba Traoré

Stade Babemba Traoré is a multi-use stadium in Sikasso, Mali. It is currently used mostly for football matches. It serves as a home ground of Stade Malien de Sikasso. It also hosted some matches for the 2002 African Cup of Nations. The stadium holds 15,000 people and was opened in 2001....

, today bears his name.