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| Israel signed a "joint declaration" that resulted in the country restoring diplomatic relations with Guinea, Israeli foreign ministry director Dore Gold said in a statement from Paris ©Jack Guez (AFP) |
Israel said
Wednesday it has renewed diplomatic relations with Guinea, 49 years after the
mostly-Muslim West African state severed ties following the 1967 Six-Day War.
AFP report continues:
"I am happy to
announce that just now we signed... a joint declaration announcing the
resumption of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Guinea and the state
of Israel," Israeli foreign ministry director Dore Gold said in a
statement from Paris, where he met senior Guinean official Ibrahim Khalil Kaba.
The announcement followed
close on the heels of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's
"historic" four-nation Africa trade and security tour aimed at boosting
ties.
At the start of the July
4-7 trip, the first by an Israeli premier to sub-Saharan Africa for decades,
Netanyahu proclaimed "Israel is coming back to Africa and Africa is coming
back to Israel."
Prior to his departure
Israel announced a relatively modest US$13 million (€12 million) aid package to
strengthen economic ties and cooperation with African countries.
Netanyahu said he
expected another exchange of ambassadors soon.
"In the coming days
I think that yet another country will be added," his office quoted him as
saying on Wednesday. "This is part of a process that is gaining
momentum."
Israel's business with
Africa constitutes only two percent of its foreign trade, leaving plenty of
room for growth while demand for its defence expertise and products is rising.
It also sees African
countries as potential allies, particularly at the United Nations and other
international bodies, where it is regularly condemned over its occupation of
the West Bank and blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli-Arab conflict
drove a wedge between African countries and the Jewish state in the 1960s.
It was exacerbated by
Israel's occupation of North African heavyweight Egypt's territory in the 1967
war and another round of fighting in 1973.
The conflict led a stream
of African countries to break off relations with the Jewish state although many
have since renewed them.
In his Hebrew-language
statement, Gold called on them to join Guinea in resuming ties.
"The number of
states on the continent yet to do so is shrinking and I hope that soon there
will be none," he said.
"Israel calls on those states which have still not renewed diplomatic relations to follow in Guinea's footsteps so that we can work together for the benefit of all the peoples of the region."
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