Sweden’s right-wing government said on Friday, December 5th it was ending aid to four African countries and shutting three embassies, in a major policy revamp to free up funds to help Ukraine.
Development Aid Minister Benjamin Dousa told reporters Sweden would phase out aid to Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Liberia as well as Bolivia next year and close its embassies in Bolivia, Liberia, and Zimbabwe—where the main focus was development aid. Dousa announced
The government plans to increase aid to Ukraine to at least 10 billion Swedish kronor (€910 million)… This means that we are now focusing nearly 20 percent of our total aid towards this specific cause
Over the past 25 years, Swedish aid to the four African countries amounted to more than SEK50 billion (€46 million), he said.
Dousa insisted the change would not affect Sweden’s humanitarian aid, and said the decision was in line with the aid priorities of the minority government, which is backed by the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats.
The Scandinavian country, which has given generous development aid since the 1970s, previously said it was ending its development aid to Iraq.
It is also aiming to link aid to its efforts to reduce immigration, boosting aid to countries near conflict zones so they can take in migrants, and by requiring countries receiving aid to take back their nationals who have been convicted of crimes in Sweden.
