4th African Conference of Scouting in Abidjan

Mali issued three commemoratives and a souvenir sheet at Bamako on 8 June 1981 for the 4th African Scout Conference, held at Abidjan in June 1981. Each stamp is lettered RÉPUBLIQUE DU MALI, POSTES and 4e conférence africaine du scoutisme-Abidjan juin 1981, and is signed O. BAILLAIS and EDILA.

Odette Baillais designed the set. EDILA (Éditions de l'Aubetin, Geneva) printed it by offset lithography. The three stamps are comb perforated 13, in panes of 25. The 110 franc, horizontal, shows two Scouts at a wooden mortar among thatched huts, a woman carrying a pot on her head in the distance, and a gazelle’s head with a shovel on a green pennant. The 160 franc, horizontal, shows two Scouts seated, one holding a torch, with a monkey’s head on a red pennant. The 300 franc, vertical, shows a Scout giving the Scout salute against a map of Africa, with a cheetah’s head on a yellow pennant.

The three stamps also exist imperforate, on cards with wide unprinted margins. The 500 franc souvenir sheet, 120 × 90 mm, comb perforated 12 × 12½, carries a portrait of Robert Baden-Powell in a campaign hat beside a large green fleur-de-lis. The sheet is lettered REPUBLIQUE DU MALI, Abidjan juin 1981 and 4e conférence africaine du scoutisme; the stamp repeats RÉPUBLIQUE DU MALI, POSTES, 500f and the conference line. The sheet exists imperforate.