Mali postpones elections after payment dispute with Idemia

Mali’s military junta announced on Monday it would postpone elections scheduled for February due to technical reasons, including a dispute with biometric technology maker Idemia.

The junta has accused the French company of holding the country’s civil identification database “hostage” since March due to unpaid bills. The issue has made it impossible to register new voters and update the voting registry, the military government says.

Idemia confirmed to Reuters that the service has been shut down because of outstanding …

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