Mali expels Swedish ambassador amid strained relations with the West

Mali has ordered Sweden’s ambassador to leave the country within 72 hours because of what it called a “hostile” statement by a Swedish minister, the government said on Friday.

Ambassador Kristina Kuhnel’s expulsion comes after Mali on Monday announced it was severing  diplomatic ties with Ukraine.

It accused a senior Ukrainian official of suggesting that Kyiv had provided help to Tuareg rebels who claimed to have killed dozens of mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner group and Malian soldiers in July.

Ukraine has denied any involvement in the fighting in northern Mali.

Bamako’s decision to cut ties with Kyiv prompted Sweden’s minister for international development cooperation and trade, Johan Forssell, to say on Wednesday that the government had decided to phase out bilateral aid to Mali due to its ties to Moscow.

“You cannot support Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine and at the same time receive several hundred million kronor each year in development aid,” Forssell said on social media platform X.

In the past decade, Sweden has provided more than $330 million in assistance to the West African nation.

Relations between Mali and the West have frayed since a military junta seized power in 2020 and staged another coup the following year.

Mali and its neighbours, Niger and Burkina Faso, also led by juntas, have pivoted away from their traditional Western allies to form closer ties with Russia.