BAMAKO: Mali’s junta on Friday ordered Sweden’s ambassador to leave the country following a “hostile” statement by a Swedish minister about Malian support for Russia, the foreign ministry said.

Sweden’s envoy to Bamako was summoned and “received notice to leave Mali within 72 hours, following the hostile declaration by her minister of international cooperation and trade about Mali”, the ministry said on X.

On Wednesday, Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation Johan Forssell posted on X: “One cannot support Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine while receiving several hundred million kronor every year in development aid.”

“The government has therefore decided to gradually end the strategy of bilateral aid from Sweden to Mali in 2024,” he added. The Swedish government has previously announced the closure of its embassy in the Malian capital by the end of this year.

It has said that a new embassy in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, is expected to open next year.

Sweden’s development cooperation funding to the West African country for the period 2021-2025 amounts to $190 million, according to the Swedish foreign ministry.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2024