Mali expels Sweden’s envoy over ‘hostile’ comment amid strained ties 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 West African country’s junta-ruled government said.

Kristina Kuhnel, Sweden’s ambassador to Bamako, has been summoned on Friday August 9 and ordered to leave days after the country’s minister for international development cooperation and trade, Johan Forssell, said his 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 kronor each year in development aid,” Forssell said on social media platform X in response to an earlier post announcing Mali was cutting ties with Ukraine.

The decision to halt and phase out development aid was taken in December last year, Forsell’s spokesperson said on Friday, adding that humanitarian assistance to Mali would continue. 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 taken a sharp downward spiral since a military junta seized power in 2020 and staged another coup the following year. The diplomatic spat underscores the broader geopolitical shift unfolding in the Sahel region as Mali and its two junta-led neighbors, Niger and Burkina Faso, have pivoted away from traditional Western allies while forming closer ties with Russia.