You are looking at the HTML representation of the XML format.
HTML is good for debugging, but probably is not suitable for your application.
See complete documentation, or API help for more information. 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<api>
  <query>
    <backlinks>
      <bl pageid="85" ns="110" title="Portal:Food Security" />
      <bl pageid="202" ns="0" title="About" />
      <bl pageid="535" ns="12" title="Help:Add headlines" />
      <bl pageid="537" ns="12" title="Help:Change Titles of Articles" />
      <bl pageid="542" ns="12" title="Help:Create a New Article" />
      <bl pageid="544" ns="12" title="Help:Deletion Policy" />
      <bl pageid="546" ns="12" title="Help:Do&#039;s and Don&#039;ts" />
      <bl pageid="560" ns="12" title="Help:Categorising Articles" />
      <bl pageid="602" ns="12" title="Help:Table of Content" />
      <bl pageid="604" ns="12" title="Help:Uploading Pictures and Documents" />
    </backlinks>
  </query>
  <query-continue>
    <backlinks blcontinue="0|Main_Page|606" />
  </query-continue>
</api>