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Over the last ten years, Sweden has provided more than USD 330 million in assistance to the West African nation. Relations between Mali and the West have strained since a military junta seized power in 2020 and staged another coup the following year.
Mali has ordered Sweden’s ambassador to leave the country within 72 hours retailing against an alleged hostile statement by a Swedish minister. Earlier, Mali said that it was severing diplomatic ties with Ukraine on the charge 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, which was denied by Ukraine.
Mali’s decision to cut ties with Kyiv prompted Sweden’s minister for international development cooperation and trade, Johan Forssell, to say that the government had decided to phase out bilateral aid to Mali due to its ties to Moscow. He further added that one should not support Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine and at the same time receive several hundred million kronor each year in development aid.
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https://trendsnafrica.com/protests-against-malian-junta-in-ivory-coast/
Over the last ten years, Sweden has provided more than USD 330 million in assistance to the West African nation. Relations between Mali and the West have strained 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.
