Denmark to close its embassies in Mali, Burkina Faso

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark will close its embassies in Mali and Burkina Faso after a series of military coups over the past few years, the Danish foreign ministry said on Monday, as it formally launched a new strategy for its cooperation with the African continent.

Ruled by a military junta since 2020, Mali has been battling ethnic Tuareg rebels in its north alongside Russia's Wagner mercenary group after it cut military cooperation ties with Western powers including European Union countries.

Since then, relations between Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso and Western powers have deteriorated as the three turn to Russia for support.

Frustrations over authorities' failure to restore security have contributed to coups in Mali and Burkina Faso, which the Danish foreign ministry said had created very limited room for maneuver in the Sahel region.

Mali's ministry of foreign affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At the same time, the Danish ministry said it would open embassies in Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia, and increase its diplomatic workforce in its embassies to Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana.

"One of the most important foreign policy questions of this century will be whether African countries will orient themselves more towards the East or the West," the Danish foreign ministry said in a statement.

"We have a clear interest in African countries looking to us in Europe to set the course for their future," it added.

(Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen in Copenhagen and Fadimata Kontao in Bamako; Editing by Toby Chopra)