Sweden’s ambassador to Mali has been told to leave the country after Stockholm said it would cut aid to Bamako over the African state’s severing of ties with Ukraine, the Malian foreign ministry said, Sputnik reported.
Earlier, Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Johan Forssell, said the country had decided to suspend its aid strategy to Mali this year because of Bamako’s severing of diplomatic ties with Kiev.
“The Swedish ambassador in Bamako, summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 8/9/2024, has been informed to leave Malian territory within 72 hours, following the hostile statement of her [country’s] minister of international cooperation and trade towards Mali,” the ministry said in a post on social media X.
On August 5, Mali severed diplomatic relations with Ukraine, accusing Kiev of supporting local terrorists following an attack on the Malian army in the Tinzaouatene region.
The attack, which took place on July 25, claimed the lives of several Malian soldiers and Russian military instructors, including their commander.
Following the attack, Ukrainian defense intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov released a video confirming Kiev’s involvement in the attack in Mali. The Ukrainian embassy in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, also posted the video, expressing support for the militants in northern Mali.
Later, French media, citing a Malian military source, reported that terrorists from the alliance of Malian armed separatist groups CSP-DPA traveled to Ukraine to receive training.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik that Kiev, unable to defeat Russia on the battlefield, decided to open a “second front” in Africa by pampering terrorist groups in African states friendly to Moscow.
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