Mali orders Swedish ambassador to leave within 72 hours

Sweden’s ambassador to Bamako has been summoned and ordered to leave the country within 72 hours because of a “hostile” statement by a Swedish minister, Mali’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says.

Mali’s move on Friday came days after Sweden’s minister for international development cooperation and trade, Johan Forssell, said the government had decided to phase out aid to Mali.

“You cannot support Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine and at the same time receive several hundred million crowns each year in development aid,” Forssell said on Wednesday, commenting on a post on X which said Mali was cutting ties with Ukraine.

The diplomatic spat underscores the broader geopolitical shift unfolding in the Sahel region as three military-led states – Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – pivot away from traditional Western allies towards Russia.

In June, due to the deteriorating security situation in Mali, Sweden announced the closure of its embassy in Bamako by the end of 2024 and said Stockholm would continue supporting the region from Dakar, Senegal.

Mali has been plagued by unrest driven by armed groups, making parts of the country ungovernable. The West African nation’s military seized power in a 2020 coup and has made it a priority to re-gain control over the entire country from separatists and hardline groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS).

While Sweden had deployed soldiers to the region in 2022 as part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission, Stockholm said it would pull its 220 soldiers out of the mission in Mali.

“In recent times, conditions have changed in the country, but until our last soldier is home, we continue to conduct operations just as usual,” the Swedish armed forces said at that time.

Other European nations, including France, completed their withdrawals of troops from Mali in 2022.

Since then, Mali has moved closer to Russia, and the Wagner mercenary group has been operating in the country since late 2021, replacing French troops and international peacekeepers.

In July, the military leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger signed a new defence cooperation pact, hailing it as a step “towards greater integration”.

Colonel Assimi Goita, Mali’s military leader, said the strengthened relationship means an “attack on one of us will be an attack on all the other members”.

It remains unclear if the new approach has helped stem the violence that has plagued the country.