Graduated from the Joint Military School (EMIA) in MALI (4th Promotion General Soumaré) and the Gendarmerie Academy (EOGN) in France (78th Promotion Colonel Daubigney), Brigadier-General Souleymane Yacouba SIDIBE successively occupied from 1971 until 1984, functions as Deputy commander of a Training Centre, Company Commander and Commander of the Corps du Groupement Spécial (GSP) of National Gendarmerie. In that same period, he attended several specialized training courses abroad (France, United Kingdom and Switzerland) and particularly with the Brigade des Sapeurs Pompiers de Paris (BSPP) and with the National Institute of Civil Safety Studies.

 

His career spans domestic and international diplomatic appointments. From 1984 until 1999, he was Ambassador for the Republic of Mali accredited to Germany, Canada, Cuba, Ethiopia, Hungary and Mexico. He also represented Mali in several international organizations, in particular the Organization of African Unity (AUO), the United Nations Committee for the Development of Africa and the United Nations Programme for Environment (PNUE). In 2001, he was appointed Special Reporter for the United Nations Organisation and the African Union in the Inter-Congolese dialogue.

Brigadier-General SIDIBE also assumed high positions on the national level in Mali. In 1991, he was Minister for Foreign Affairs in the first Democratic Transitional Government in Mali. From 2002 to 2004, he became Minister of Security and later Minister of Internal Security and Civil Protection.

He is commander of the Ecole de Maintienr de la Paix « Alioune Blondin Beye Â» since March 20, 2007.

Brigadier-General SIDIBE is decorated with the following orders :
 Medal of Merit of the African Union (2000),
 Commander of the National Order of Mali (2006),
 Knight of the International Order of Civil Protection (2007).