The Swedish government has decided to suspend aid to the African country of Mali because of its ties to Russia. This was stated by Minister for International Development Cooperation Johan Forssell in an interview with TV4, UNN reports .
Details
It is noted that the reason for this decision is that Mali supported Russia, and the African country voted against UN resolutions demanding that Russia stop its military aggression.
When we cooperate with other countries, we want those countries to want to cooperate with Sweden, but Mali's military junta instead turns to Russia and supports their full-scale war against Ukraine,
Over the past 10 years, Sweden has provided over SEK 3.5 billion (over $237 million) in development assistance to Mali.
According to the minister, as part of the reform, Swedish aid should not support states or actors that are undemocratic or oppose the rules-based world order and thus undermine Swedish interests.
In addition, the minister noted that Sweden's assistance to developing countries has been scattered so far, so the government is going to reduce the number of countries it will help to 30, as it needs to "focus on quality and results.
Recall
Sweden is allocating 1.4 billion kronor (approximately 120 million euros) to Ukraine, which will be used, in particular, to support the country's population in the run-up to winter. The funds will be used to support electricity and heating systems and to build shelters in schools.