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1 [1] (September 18, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govdbul0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 01;0i E.$~ & p\w gnom ggmm mppm qq\ , q I aS 11LIANJILiN, Updated September 18, 2020 Crisis in Mali The military seizure of power in August 2020 has heightened political uncertainty in Mali amid severe security, governance, and humanitarian challenges. Security conditions have worsened steadily in recent years as Islamist insurgents have expanded from the north into central Mali. A 2015 peace accord with northern separatists remains largely unimplemented. Ethnic militias, some of which appear to enjoy state backing, have massacred civilians in the rural center and northeast. Bamako (Fig. 1), while comparatively secure, has seen large terrorist attacks in recent years, such as a hotel siege in 2015 that killed 19 civilians, including one American. Rebel, terrorist, communal defense, and criminal networks often overlap. These complex threats and security dynamics have impeded socioeconomic development and humanitarian relief efforts in a landlocked country with limited arable land. More than 287,000 Malians were internally displaced as of July 2020, almost double the previous year, and at least 142,000 were refugees in neighboring countries as of early 2020, per U.N. figures. The novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought new health and economic difficulties. Foreign troops have deployed to Mali since 2013 to try to improve stability and counter terrorism. MINUSMA, a U.N. peacekeeping operation, comprises up to 15,209 uniformed personnel. France has about 5,100 troops deployed in West Africa's Sahel region, including Mali, under Operation Barkhane, a French-led counterterrorism mission to which the United States provides logistical support (as authorized by Congress under 10 U.S.C. §331) and intelligence sharing. The European Union (EU) runs programs to train and restructure Mali's military and build the capacity of its civilian security forces. In 2017, the countries of the G5 Sahel Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Chad-initiated a joint force to coordinate military operations in border regions. Military seizure of power. On August 18, after months of growing anti-government protests, a group of military colonels led by Col. Assimi Goita, a member of Mali's elite special forces battalion, seized power. The self-described National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP) detained civilian officials including President Ibrahim Boubacar K~ta, who resigned on television and later left the country for medical care. Popular opposition to K6ita, who was reelected to a second term in 2018, had built for over a year, spurred by alleged interference in legislative elections held in early 2020, corruption scandals, worsening insecurity, militia violence, and economic hardships. In June 2020, a loose alliance of politicians, civil society actors, and followers of an influential Bamako religious leader called for K6Yta to resign, provoking a violent state crackdown. Regional heads of state attempted to mediate, unsuccessfully. The National Assembly speaker (K6ita's constitutional successor) was among 31 disputed members of parliament whom regional mediators asked to step down; K6ta also dissolved parliament when he resigned. Figure I. Mali at a Glance size klghtly lesTan2ize 6fTexas ReI g ions~ Mus n94d, thr stia 3 t .oth.erno.e 3.. 2.18 est Fotity.Rate; 5A 7~ chdd enS~ borten {ofld'-e 4th hAghest Iteracy Rat: n ary Fn%0 eme unlest. HNJAIDS Adult Prevalence '.4 ,2Da st GDP Growth / Per Capita: I.5 -22}/$2 21 St) Key Imports/Import PaplersdedtheurNS mandledgeand eqorinnt .nstruutin eaers, fod teie atnesa a n Coed tde aF fianciale sco nM17i Key Expots/Export Partners Ltoa, gol, vetc calling for a civilian-led transitional administration that would govern for no more than a year prior to elections. In mid-September, the CNSP issued plans for an 18-month transition; it did not commit to handing power to civilians. Mali has been mired in crisis since 2012, when state institutions nearly collapsed in the face of a northern separatist rebellion, a military coup, and an Islamist insurgent advance. After junior military officers seized power from an elected president, northern rebels fueled by arms from Libya and bolstered by fighters with ties to Algerian-led Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) declared an independent state of Azawad. By mid-2012, AQIM and two loosely aligned groups had outmaneuvered the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) to assert control over most of the north. France intervened militarily against the Islamists in early 2013, at which point the MNLA and other factions (re-)asserted control in some areas. MINUSMA deployed in mid-2013, and K6ita won elections later that year, marking the end of Mali's post-coup political transition. The 2012 coup leader, Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo, faces charges for the murder of rival soldiers, but his trial has been delayed repeatedly. ,-.,,.,'. Accord In 2015, K6ita's administration signed a peace deal with two northern armed coalitions: one led by ex-separatists, and one by pro-unity groups with ties to Bamako. Mediated by Algeria with broad international backing, the so-called

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