auto-update week 17

africa/ml.json

@@ -600,10 +600,10 @@
         "text": "unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (147 seats; members directly elected in single and multi-seat constituencies by absolute majority vote in 2 rounds if needed; 13 seats reserved for citizens living abroad; members serve 5-year terms)<br><br>note 1 - the National Assembly was dissolved on 18 August 2020 following a military coup and the resignation of President KEITA; the transition government created a National Transition Council (CNT) whose 121 members were selected by then transition Vice President Assimi GOITA; the CNT acts as the transitional government's legislative body, with Malick DIAW serving as the president; in February 2022, the CNT increased the number of seats to 147, but some of the additional seats have not yet been filled<br><br>note 2 - passage of a constitutional referendum held on 18 June 2023 calls for the creation of a \"Senate\""
       },
       "elections": {
-        "text": "<br>last held on 30 March and 19 April 2020; note - following the dissolution of the National Assembly in August 2020 and the ratification of a new constitution in July 2023 expanding the powers of the military junta, no plans for legislative elections have been announced"
+        "text": "last held on 30 March and 19 April 2020; note - following the dissolution of the National Assembly in August 2020 and the ratification of a new constitution in July 2023 expanding the powers of the military junta, no plans for legislative elections have been announced"
       },
       "election results": {
-        "text": "<br>percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA; composition - NA"
+        "text": "percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA; composition - NA"
       }
     },
     "Judicial branch": {
@@ -618,7 +618,7 @@
       }
     },
     "Political parties and leaders": {
-      "text": "<p>African Solidarity for Democracy and Independence or SADI [Oumar MARIKO]<br>Alliance for Democracy and Progress or ADP-Maliba [Amadou THIAM]<br>Alliance for Democracy in Mali-Pan-African Party for Liberty, Solidarity, and Justice or ADEMA-PASJ [Tiemoko SANGARE]<br>Alliance for the Solidarity of Mali-Convergence of Patriotic Forces or ASMA-CFP [Amadou CISSE, vice-president, acting]<br>Convergence for the Development of Mali or CODEM [Housseyni Amion GUINDO]<br>Democratic Alliance for Peace or ADP-Maliba [Aliou Boubacar DIALLO]<br>Movement for Mali or MPM [Brahima DIANESSY, deputy]                                                                                           <br>Party for National Renewal (also Rebirth or Renaissance or PARENA) [Tiebile DRAME]<br>Rally for Mali or RPM [Boucary TRETA] <br>Social Democratic Convention or CDS [Mamadou Bakary \"Blaise\" SANGARE]<br>Union for Democracy and Development or UDD [Hassane BARRY]                                             <br>Union for Republic and Democracy or URD [Soumaïla CISSE]<br>Yéléma [Moussa MARA]</p> <strong>note 1: </strong>only parties with 2 or more seats in the last National Assembly parliamentary elections (30 March and 19 April 2020) listed<br><strong><br>note 2:</strong>  the National Assembly was dissolved on 18 August 2020 following a military coup and replaced with a National Transition Council; currently 121 members, party affiliations unknown"
+      "text": "<p>African Solidarity for Democracy and Independence or SADI [Oumar MARIKO]<br>Alliance for Democracy and Progress or ADP-Maliba [Amadou THIAM]<br>Alliance for Democracy in Mali-Pan-African Party for Liberty, Solidarity, and Justice or ADEMA-PASJ [Tiemoko SANGARE]<br>Alliance for the Solidarity of Mali-Convergence of Patriotic Forces or ASMA-CFP [Amadou CISSE, vice-president, acting]<br>Convergence for the Development of Mali or CODEM [Housseyni Amion GUINDO]<br>Democratic Alliance for Peace or ADP-Maliba [Aliou Boubacar DIALLO]<br>Movement for Mali or MPM [Brahima DIANESSY, deputy]                                                                                           <br>Party for National Renewal (also Rebirth or Renaissance or PARENA) [Tiebile DRAME]<br>Rally for Mali or RPM [Boucary TRETA] <br>Social Democratic Convention or CDS [Mamadou Bakary \"Blaise\" SANGARE]<br>Union for Democracy and Development or UDD [Hassane BARRY]                                             <br>Union for Republic and Democracy or URD [Soumaïla CISSE]<br>Yéléma [Moussa MARA]</p> <strong>note 1: </strong>only parties with 2 or more seats in the last National Assembly parliamentary elections (30 March and 19 April 2020) included<br><strong><br>note 2:</strong>  the National Assembly was dissolved on 18 August 2020 following a military coup and replaced with a National Transition Council; currently 121 members, party affiliations unknown"
     },
     "International organization participation": {
       "text": "ACP, AfDB, AU (suspended), CD, EITI (compliant country), FAO, FZ, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, MINUSCA, MONUSCO, NAM, OIC, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNOPS, UN Women, UNWTO, UPU, WADB (regional), WAEMU, World Bank Group, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO"
@@ -1218,7 +1218,7 @@
       "text": "<strong>note: </strong>until announcing its withdrawal in May of 2022, Mali was part of a five-nation anti-jihadist task force known as the G5 Sahel Group, set up in 2014 with Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, and Niger; Mali had committed 1,100 troops and 200 gendarmes to the force"
     },
     "Military - note": {
-      "text": "the FAMa is responsible for defense of the country’s sovereignty and territory, but also has some domestic security duties, including the maintenance of public order and support to law enforcement if required, as well as counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations; it also participates in socio-economic development projects; the military has traditionally played a large role in Mali’s politics; prior to the coup in August 2020 and military takeover in May 2021, it had intervened in the political arena at least five times since the country gained independence in 1960; two attempts failed (1976 and 1978), while three succeeded in overturning civilian rule (1968, 1991, and 2012)<br><br>the FAMa and other security forces are actively engaged in operations against several insurgent/terrorist groups affiliated with al-Qa'ida and the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS), as well as other rebel groups, communal militias, and criminal bands spread across the central, northern, and southern regions of the country; the government is reportedly in control of only an estimated 10-20% of the country's central and northern territories, and attacks are increasing in the more heavily populated south, including around the capital Bamako; the Macina Liberation Front (FLM), part of the Jama’at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) coalition of al-Qa'ida-linked terror groups, has played a large role in a surge in violence in Mali’s central and southern regions; in the north, ISIS in the Greater Sahara (ISIS-GS) has regained strength in recent years<br><br>the FAMa and the remainder of the security forces collapsed in 2012 during the fighting against Tuareg rebels and Islamic militants and have since been rebuilt with considerable external assistance, including the EU, France, and the UN; for example, the EU Training Mission in Mali (EUTM) from 2013-2022 trained as many as 15,000 Malian soldiers and eight combined arms battalions/battlegroups (Groupement Tactique InterArmes, GTIA), each of which was structured to be self-sufficient with its own motorized/mechanized infantry, light armor, commandos, artillery, engineers, and other support forces; EUTM suspended its training program in 2022, citing issues with the ruling military government, including human rights abuses and the presence of Russian private military contractors; over the same period, the French military provided considerable assistance to the Malian security forces and conducted counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations in Mali; the French suspended operations in 2021 and in August 2022 withdrew the last of its forces while also citing issues with the military government; the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) had operated in the country since 2013 with the mission of providing security, rebuilding Malian security forces, protecting civilians, supporting national political dialogue, and assisting in the reestablishment of Malian government authority; however, in June 2023, the UN Security Council voted to end the MINUSMA mission after the ruling junta demanded the withdrawal of foreign forces and aligned itself closer to Russia; the MINUSMA mission officially ended on 11 December 2023, although a liquidation phase involving activities such as handing over remaining equipment to local authorities will stretch into 2024<br> <br>in addition to the EU-trained GTIAs, the Army has commandos and special forces, as well as recently created motorcycle-mounted reconnaissance units; the Air Force has small numbers of combat aircraft and helicopters, as well as a few armed UAVs; the Gendarmerie and National Guard field company-sized paramilitary units, including camel-mounted forces in the National Guard; they also have special anti-terrorism and intervention forces<br><br>the military government has increased security ties with Russia; Russia has provided military equipment, and in December 2021, Mali contracted with a Russian private military company to provide training for local armed forces and security to senior Malian officials; the contractors have also participated in security operations and been accused of war crimes; as of 2023, there were an estimated 1,000 Russian military contractors in Mali (2023)"
+      "text": "the FAMa is responsible for defense of the country’s sovereignty and territory, but also has some domestic security duties, including the maintenance of public order and support to law enforcement if required, as well as counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations; it also participates in socio-economic development projects; the military has traditionally played a large role in Mali’s politics; prior to the coup in August 2020 and military takeover in May 2021, it had intervened in the political arena at least five times since the country gained independence in 1960 (1968, 1976, 1978, 1991, 2012)<br><br>the FAMa and other security forces are actively engaged in operations against several insurgent/terrorist groups affiliated with al-Qa'ida and the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS), as well as other rebel groups, communal militias, and criminal bands spread across the central, northern, and southern regions of the country; the government is reportedly in control of only an estimated 10-20% of the country's central and northern territories, and attacks have increased in the more heavily populated south, including around the capital Bamako; the Macina Liberation Front (FLM), part of the Jama’at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) coalition of al-Qa'ida-linked terror groups, has played a large role in a surge in violence in Mali’s central and southern regions; in the north, ISIS in the Greater Sahara (ISIS-GS) has regained strength in recent years<br> <p>the FAMa and the remainder of the security forces collapsed in 2012 during the fighting against Tuareg rebels and Islamic militants and have since been rebuilt with considerable external assistance, including the EU, France, and the UN; for example, the EU Training Mission in Mali (EUTM) from 2013-2022 trained as many as 15,000 Malian soldiers and eight combined arms battalions/battlegroups (Groupement Tactique InterArmes, GTIA), each of which was structured to be self-sufficient with its own motorized/mechanized infantry, light armor, commandos, artillery, engineers, and other support forces; the EUTM and the French military ended their missions in 2022 citing issues with the ruling military government, including human rights abuses and the presence of Russian private military contractors; the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) operated in the country from 2013-2023 with the mission of providing security, rebuilding Malian security forces, protecting civilians, supporting national political dialogue, and assisting in the reestablishment of Malian government authority; MINUSMA had more than 15,000 personnel at its peak strength and lost over 300 peacekeepers during the course of the mission, which was concluded at the end of 2023 after the ruling junta demanded the withdrawal of foreign forces</p> in addition to the EU-trained GTIAs, the Army has commandos and special forces, as well as motorcycle-mounted reconnaissance units; the Air Force has small numbers of combat aircraft, helicopters, and armed drones; the Gendarmerie and National Guard field company-sized paramilitary units, including camel-mounted forces in the National Guard; they also have special anti-terrorism and intervention forces<br><br>the military government has increased security ties with Russia; Russia has provided military equipment, and in December 2021, Mali contracted with a Russian private military company to provide training and other support for local armed forces, as well as security for senior Malian officials (2024)"
     }
   },
   "Terrorism": {
@@ -1228,9 +1228,6 @@
     }
   },
   "Transnational Issues": {
-    "Disputes - international": {
-      "text": "<p><em>Mali-Burkina Faso</em>: demarcation is underway with Burkina Faso</p> <p> </p>"
-    },
     "Refugees and internally displaced persons": {
       "refugees (country of origin)": {
         "text": "29,138 (Burkina Faso) (refugees and asylum seekers), 20,617 (Niger) (refugees and asylum seekers), 14,956 (Mauritania) (refugees and asylum seekers) (2023)"