Sten Hagberg writes about the cuts in Swedish bilateral support

Read our text (in Swedish) in Global Bar Magazine on the Swedish government’s decision to end its bilateral support to Mali and Burkina Faso by the end of 2024. An very unfortunate decision we argue.

While the decision is not surprising given the current government’s announced priorities for development cooperation (with stronger ties to migration and trade), the decision will severely impact the already suffering population in the #Sahel region.

We believe that the government's decision is unwise and even harmful. In addition, important opportunities for collaboration between long-term development aid and short-term humanitarian assistance are affected. With this decision, the government abandons long-term efforts in some of the world's most vulnerable countries. The #IRC and #ICG for example list the Sahel region as one of the most fragile hotspots in 2024 in desperate need of support and attention.

The path to the coastal states of West Africa is left open if we do not work to combat the driving factors that successfully enable local recruitment into the internationally-backed armed groups. The Swedish government's decision may therefore also have geopolitical consequences.

Furthermore, if there is no bilateral development aid that can build on dealing with the root causes of the crises, Swedish humanitarian aid will increasingly only become "fire brigade calls" instead of working to put out the fires more comprehensively and at best attack the root causes.