The order came days after a Swedish minister announced that aid to Mali would “run out”.
The Swedish ambassador in Bamako was summoned and asked to leave the country within 72 hours because a Swedish minister made a “hostile” statement, the Malian Foreign Ministry said.
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 in development aid every year,” Forssell said on Wednesday, commenting on a post on X saying Mali would break off relations with Ukraine.
Forsell’s spokesman said on Friday that the decision to halt and phase out development aid was made in December, but that humanitarian aid would continue.
The diplomatic dispute underscores broader geopolitical shifts in the Sahel as three military-led states – Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – turn away from their traditional Western allies and embrace Russia.
In June, due to the deteriorating security situation in Mali, Sweden announced the closure of its embassy in Bamako until the end of 2024 and stated that Stockholm would continue to support the region from Dakar, Senegal.
Mali is plagued by unrest sparked by armed groups that has left parts of the country ungovernable. The West African country’s military seized power in a coup in 2020 and has made it a priority to regain control of the entire country from separatists and hardline groups with links to al-Qaeda and IS.
While Sweden had deployed soldiers to the region as part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission in 2022, Stockholm announced it would withdraw its 220 soldiers from the mission in Mali.
“Conditions in the country have changed recently, but until our last soldier is home, we will continue our operations as usual,” the Swedish Armed Forces said at the time.
Other European nations, including France, have completed their troop withdrawal from Mali in 2022.
Since then, Mali has moved closer to Russia, and since late 2021 the Wagner mercenary group has been active in the country, replacing French troops and international peacekeepers.
In July, the military leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger signed a new defense cooperation pact, welcoming it as a step “towards greater integration.”
Colonel Assimi Goita, Mali’s military leader, said the strengthened ties meant that “an attack on one of us would be an attack on all the other members.”
It remains unclear whether the new approach has helped curb the violence plaguing the country.
